The Burn of Radiation
by Melissa Schmitt
Summary: This is a story about two vault dwellers girls that are trying to find their way in the dreadful wasteland. This story is wrote in two perspectives, one by me and one by my friend.
1. Chapter 1

_I don't own anything, just my character. All Fallout copyright goes to Bethesda._

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**War, war never changes. Men have always fought whether it was for resources, money, or religion. This time it was for resources, the ground was dry from all the years it was stolen from. October 23, 2077 the bombs fell, the few people that listened to the sirens ran to the safety of the vaults. After the bombs dropped from the sky all that was left was the people living in the underground vaults. Many of the vaults were over run by their experiments others just faded away. Vault 100, a vault long forgotten, hid so well no one ever knew it existed. But what happened in that forgotten vault? No one know because no one has ever left vault 100 … or so they say.**

* * *

**Alexandria **

_The wasteland changes you. One day you kill a man to protect yourself and feel the guilt of a murderer, the next day you kill a man, for caps, without a hint of regret. It's a cruel place sprinkled with death and with a hint of radiation. Maybe I'm overreacting, maybe it's the fact that for the first 16 years of my life I was sheltered from the truth, the horror that is in the wastes. In a vault the day you're born your mind is corrupted with with thought of other's, no room for your own. You must believe the Overseer and follow him blindly without doubt in your mind about his actions. If you develop any thoughts of your own they will be beat out of you._

_The vault wasn't that bad as long as you were one of the Overseer's undiscerning androids. These people would listen to one of his speeches,hanging one every one of his word till they dropped to the ground as the people didn't understand. They acted almost like he was a god telling them about their futures but all they could do was look at him and admire his ranking, not listening to his words of how they are all damned. Unlike the vault dwellers my brain heard these words and processed through them, if only theirs could. He told of how these men and women were just drones, his own personal drones only made to help him achieve the true height of a god to these people. I hated the man, he knew. My mind had it's own thought, he knew. I wrote him a poem:_

"Oh, you're such an ass,

Are you turned on by our pain?

Do you enjoy it?

Well it seems like it,

Do you jerk off to our screams?

That's one weird fetish.

-Alex**  
**

_He saw. I put it on his door I'm still not fully sure why, perhaps I thought that the brainwashed vault dwellers would read it and snap out of their trance. The Overseer did not respond kindly, three hours later one of his thugs came knocking. The man tried to grab me __this time I knew if I didn't fight this would be the last poem I wrote. My mind jolted to life pushing me farther than ever before, it told me to grab the hidden knife, I listened. His blood covered the floor and my hands. The small stab wound in his neck was changing my life, my heart was beating so fast I thought I was going to pass out. I dropped the knife and ran to the Overseer's office, searching every nook and cranny for his passwords. Just two simple words and I would be free; it was so close I could taste it on my lips._

"What are you doing in here Alexandria?" The man silently walked over to where I was. "Looking for my passwords?" His long fingers brushed the hair out of my face.

I stared at him silently wondering if my body would give off a bit more adrenaline.

"Hmm, it's not normal for you to be silent. Did you kill him?" His hand moved down to my shoulder. "Never mind that, so you want to get out? You must do something for me first." His perfect white teeth showed a devilish grin.

"Why?" My hands began to tremble, I wanted to wake up from this terrible dream.

"You don't just get the passwords for free, there is a price for everything my dear." The Overseer's green eyes sparkled mischievously.

_I wish I could lie but I cannot, I did one thing I swore never to do, I slept with him. Sure it wasn't my first time, there are plenty of young boys in the vault, but this time it was different it wasn't just a fun thing to do one time it was something that gave you nightmares._

* * *

**Elizabeth**

I woke up to the same thing I have woken up to for eighteen years. The cold smell of metallic filled my nostrils. It was a small metal room with a large metal door. There were two plain white beds, a couple shelves, and some pictures on the walls. This is what a lot of rooms look like in The Vault. I grew up here, like everyone else. We grow up and die here in Vault 100, or so it's said to be that way.

I looked over to the other bed to see my little brother, Thomas, still asleep. He's four years younger than me. I remember my life at age fourteen, it wasn't the best year of my life.

_My mother, Thomas, and I were all hanging out in our Vault room. Tomorrow was Thomas' tenth birthday. The year he would get his Pip-boy that my mom and I were making for him. My mom was beautiful. She had silky brown hair, and blue eyes that looked like the ocean, or at least what I think the ocean looks like. She was like any other mom. Cared for my brother and I. Protected us from danger, and cheered us up when we were down._

_It was a great day until sirens started going off. We all looked around, red lights were flashing, we could hear people screaming. Then a loud gunshot met our ears, making us jump._

"_Stay calm. Liz, please stay with Thomas." Mom said before getting up and walking outside our room. I sat there hugging Thomas as we waited and listened for anything._

"_What do you thinks going on?" Thomas asked._

"_I don't know." I shrugged._

"_Will mom be OK?" I looked down at him, he was scared and he looked worried._

"_She'll be just fine. Let me go look for a second, OK?" I said and got up. The door opened with a loud clash. I peeked outside. No one was there, but there was some blood on the steel floor. "Stay here." I looked back at Thomas before walking out to search around. I grabbed a police baton from one of the dead Vault Guards. I turned another corner and there stood mom._

"_Elizabeth! I told you to stay with Thomas!" She scolded._

"_I'm sorry, he was worried and I said I'd make sure you were OK." I looked down at my feet._

"_I'm fine, so if you'd please-" She stopped mid sentence. "Oh no... Joseph..." She said looking past me. I turned around to see him. The man I feared would find us. My father. "Liz, run!" Mom yelled. I turned back to the hall I came and ran as quickly as I could. Then I heard another booming gun shot. I spun around. The sight horrified me. Mom fell to the floor with a blank look on her face. Her own blood pooled around her and she laid limp._

"_Mom!" I screamed. Tears raced down my cheeks. My mom was gone..._

"_Oh Elizabeth. Why don't you come say 'hi' to your daddy?" My father asked and opened his arms in the gesture for a hug. I turned and ran again, not stopping, and I didn't dare to look behind me. I needed to find Alex, hopefully she was OK. Alexandra was my best friend. Her and I would do everything together._

_But in mid sprint, it hit me, "Thomas." I whispered to myself. I looked back, thankfully my father wasn't following. I cautiously turned and walked back to our room. "Thomas we-" The metal door opened. I gasped when I saw my father beating Thomas, trying to get answers out of him._

"_How great to see you again Liz." Dad smiled. Thomas looked up at me sadly. He had a black eye, and blood trickling down his face. His short brown hair was matted and messy with blood. His green eyes were all puffy from crying. "I was just asking Thomas what mom told you guys. Sadly he didn't answer. Oh well, I guess I'll to keep trying to get it out of him." Dad sighed then an evil smile appeared on his face._

"_No! Leave him alone!" I ran over and sat with Thomas to protect him. "He doesn't know...Mom didn't tell him...She only told me..." I said sadly and tried to stop the blood on Thomas' wounded head._

"_Oh, well then." Dad said and gripped the back of my long, thick, brown hair making me scream in surprise. He pulled me up so we were eye level. I was barely on my toes. I grabbed his hand at the back of my head, trying to get it to ease. "I think you need to tell me little girl." He growled in my face._

"_Never." I whined as my blue eyes started to water._

"_Come on, Liz. It's just one little secret." He punched my stomach as he said 'secret'. I stayed quiet. He was about to hit me again but suddenly he let go of my hair. "What the fuck!?" He yelled. He was gripping his right leg. I looked over at Thomas who was holding his BB gun. My dad straightened up and glared at Thomas. He started walking in Thomas' direction but I quickly tripped him, making him fall on his back. "You little bitch!" He yelled as I grabbed Thomas' hand and pulled him out of the room._

"_Liz...I'm scared..." Thomas sobbed._

"_It's OK, it's OK." I promised._

"_Where's mom?" He asked quietly. I looked sadly down at his sobbing face. "Liz? Why were you crying?"_

"_Thomas...I'm so sorry..." I let go of his hand and stopped running. "Go hide somewhere. Keep the BB gun. Don't use it unless you must. Do you understand me? Please call for help if he finds you. Keep fighting, never give up." I whispered before running down a hall. I slightly turned my head to watch Thomas run into a room and lock the door. When I wasn't looking, I accidentally ran into a bold, strong body. The impact made me fall onto my back. I looked up to see multiple Vault Guards. Some held batons, and others wielded handguns._

"_Liz?" A familiar low voice asked. I watched as Alex pushed her way through the guards. "Liz!" She helped me up and pulled me into a strong hug. I hugged her back as more tears fought past my eyelids._

"_Alex...He found us...and he killed her...she's gone..." I cried into her shoulder. We stayed silent as guards ran past us to find my father and fend him off._

_Maybe minutes later, they had chased my dad out of Vault 100. He was gone, but not for good. We were safe, but not forever. Nothing lasts forever._

_I quickly found Thomas again. He was sobbing. He was terrified. Horrified. I embraced him, and tried to comfort him like mom used to do. "Liz, what happened to mom?" He looked up at me with teary eyes, but never let go of the hug._

"_Dad...he shot her...And it was my fault. I ran and didn't help. I'm so sorry you had to feel this pain of losing someone." I kept stroking his hair. He cried even harder. His tears stained into my Vault 100 jumpsuit. I held back the tears. I had to be brave, for Thomas._

_We walked back to our room together. He still never let go of me. I can see why. He didn't want to lose another family member. He didn't want to be alone. Like me, I never want to be alone. I never want to hear the silence of nothing and no one._

_We sat on his bed as he leaned against me. It was silent for for a moment, until Thomas said something that broke my heart. "Mom's going to miss my birthday." He was right. He was going to turn ten, get his Pip-boy. And mom wasn't going to see. She would never watch him grow up._

* * *

**Alexandria**

"Hey, Alex! Are you okay?" Shay looked over at me with curious eyes.

"Ya, I was just thing about our next target. The whole thing with his girlfriend doesn't match up." I looked up to the sky, it was probably around two in the afternoon. "Hey, we'll stop here for a bit. So I wanted to go over a few thing about our next guy, first off we know know his name. He and his gang call him the Butcher, a fitting name for his deeds, but his real name is Isaac Holt. He's from a place called the Pitt, if you know anything about the place it is filled with slaves, their masters, and radiation's offspring."

"So he was a slave?" Crow asked as he messed with his ripped shirt sleeve.

"No, in fact he was a master but the ruler of the Pitt thought he was too violent and kicked him out. Though this doesn't make much sense because of the rulers own evil deed, I feel like something else is happening in the Pitt maybe something life changing. Though that's highly improbable it could very well happen, some proof is that over the last eleven months there has been sighting of thirteen men and women leaving the tunnel. Five of the men that left also are part of his gang. Devin, Felix, Chase, Galvin, and Delia."

"Are they the only one's in the gang?" Shay's big blue eyes looked at me intently.

"No, there are three others. Two from paradise falls and a new one which I'm not sure who he is or where he's from. After he got kicked out he traveled here on the old railroads finding his friends and planning a gang. At the time he was planning it, he met a woman in Megaton. She wasn't a native there but instead was a slaver from back west just staying at Moriarty's saloon. The woman's name is Quinn, she is supposedly from the west but truthfully that's not confirmed, after some time together they became romantically involved and once he started up his gang she broke it off not wanting to get involved in those kind of things again. When I went to her house I found her dead, I looked like suicide but I looked closer and found a few clues that looked as if she didn't do it to herself."

"So maybe he told her something when he though originally she would join them, but when she didn't he heard people are after him and had to make sure she wouldn't tell anyone?" Shay asked.

"Exactly, at least that's what I'm guessing. To be honest I don't know, at this time we are only guessing until we get hard proof. So we have a few leads. First there is Quinn's sister the two girls moved here together and they were apparently very close. Crow and Shay I want you two to she if you can find her and get any information. She is working in Paradise Falls, so I would say look there first, you'll have to get in which means getting captured or getting accepted. I will go and see if I can find any other information about his past in the Pitt."

"Okay, so do you have any idea how long you will be gone, or how long we'll be gone." Crow fiddled with his thumbs.

"I'd say a week or two, meet in Megaton in two weeks. If you don't meet me there I'll come looking for you but if I'm not there be patient I'll be there."

* * *

**Elizabeth**

"Hey, come on Thomas. You gotta go to school." I said, gently shaking his sleeping body. He sat up and rubbed his eyes. I smiled down at him before walking to get myself ready for work. I had a job in building, repairing, and updating Pip-boys. Thomas quickly got ready and ran off to school as I walked down to my station.

Work was slow, like normal. I didn't get that many people. I finished building one for a ten year old. Then I repaired one for an elderly women. I walked out of my workshop only to run into a shocking fight. Three boys crowded over Thomas. The punched and teased him.

"Hey!" I yelled. They all turned around, fear filled faces.

"Oh, it's just you." Jason, the Overseers son relaxed. He was about my height, just a little shorter. The fifteen year old boy had blond hair and green eyes. "Look, your big sister came to save you." He teased.

"Hey, just because you're the Overseer's _brat_ doesn't make you better than everyone." I glared at him.

"How rude, calling me the brat. I'd say your little brother is the brat. He's like a little girl." Him and his friends laughed at the non funny joke. I spun Jason around. my hand curled into a fist, and before I knew what I was doing, my knuckles connected with his nose. I felt a crack and blood pooled down his nose. He shrieked in pain before running off crying The other two boys quickly ran off scared. I helped Thomas up and inspected him, making sure he was OK.

"Hey, you ok?" I asked looking at his bruised cheek.

"I'm fine." He pushed me away, and walked back to our room before I could say anymore. I followed after him. When I got to the room he was sitting on his bed.

"Thomas I-"

"You don't need to save me from everything. I'm not a little kid anymore." He interrupted me.

"I was just trying to help." I said sadly.

"Well stop helping! You're not Mom! and you never will be!" He yelled at me. I took a step back. I wasn't trying to be Mom, was I?

"Sorry…" I sighed before exiting the room to walk a little.

I continued walking, arms crossed, and eyes down watching my feet. "It was Thomas' older sister, Elizabeth!" Someone cried. I glanced over to see Jason talking to his father. 'Great' I thought.

"Oh, Elizabeth. We were just discussing you unneeded, bad behavior."

"Oh, well I'm very sorry _Sir _that your son is a little brat who should be thrown into the radiation. Just like his disgusting, murderous father. I should have left with Alex. I just wish I knew how she escaped from this hell hole." I got all up in his face and glared into his poison green eyes.

"Jason, why don't you go back to your room." He glanced down at Jason.

"What? Hasn't your son see what you do to people?" I stepped back and crossed my arms. I continued to glare at Derek (The Overseer). Jason glanced nervously between her father and I, a piece of white tape over his newly broken nose. "Jason, I told you to go to your room."

"OK dad…" Jason sighed before walking off. I took the chance while Derek was watching his son walk away to punch him. My fist connected with his cheek, making him stumble backwards. I sprinted back to Thomas. I had to get us out of here, and there was no way I'd leave Thomas.

I got back to the steel room. Thomas was still sitting on his bed.

"What do you want…?" He asked, still in a pissed off tone. Without answering, I grabbed his arm and dragged him out of our room. "What are you doing?!" He asked as he struggled to keep up. Multiple Vault Guards chasing us answered his question. We got to the Overseers office where I frantically searched for the codes and Thomas kept guard. "Liz! About three guards are coming this way." I put my searching on hold and found a handgun. I stood by the open door quietly and waited for the guards to show. Right as I had them in range, I spun around and shot all three, in the head.

"We aren't going to find the codes quick enough…" I sighed, "Let's hurry to the Vault door. I'll figure something out." I said while grabbing ammo and a couple stimpacks, just in case. We quickly ran together, I held the gun at ready. I just hoped i wouldn't use it again…

We ran into the room where the only thing between us and freedom was a giant gear looking steel door.

"We can't get through without codes…" Thomas glanced back at me.

"I know…"

"Hold it!" Someone yelled. About six guards and the overseer stood in front of the other exit.

"I don't think so. I'm the one with a gun. I don't think any of you have guns, do you?" I asked the rhetorical question. A couple guards got into a fighting stance to protect Derek while the others charged at us. I shot one in the shoulder and the second person behind him in the stomach twice with the last three bullets in the hand gun. Some of the guards saw me reloading and ran at us. I stepped in front of Thomas as I had him finish reloading the gun. I grabbed one of the batons one of the guards tried to smash into me. I punched his stomach before pushing him into a metal wall. The other two guards who tried to attack us came quickly. I had to defensively put an arm up to block their black batons. I took one of the batons and smashed it into one of their faces. The other one grabbed the baton in my hand and pulled up, making me stand straighter. A loud gunshot blasted through the air. I saw blood poor from the guards stomach. Thomas had the gun against the guards uniform. I let go of the baton and watched him fall limply. Thomas looked up at me. I tried to smiled down at him. I looked back at Derek and his last standing guard.

"Be happy I didn't kill them all." I growled.

"Sir?" The Vault Guard asked the Overseer.

Derek just put his hand up, "Leave me to talk with them." The guard hesitated before finally walking away. "What is it you want Elizabeth?"

"To leave, and to take Thomas away from this place."

"Very well." Derek walked over to the code control pad. He typed in a couple words and numbers before the gear door started to move.

Dust blew off as the door started moving again since its last movement, three years ago. Sunlight poured in from the outdoors. I could feel a light breeze. We were free. I grabbed Thomas' arm again before running off into the wastelands. It wasn't as I imagined, but we were out of the Vault.

* * *

**Alexandra**

You could say that I lied to them and that would be true, I was never intending on looking for information about the man and his gang. I have been scouting his camp for a week as Crow and Shay slept, I knew every movement of theirs, every thought of theirs. To be honest I sent them on a wild goose chase, she never had a sister, and Paradise Falls is a cruel place so it should take them the most part of a week just to get in.

I am going to the coast of Maryland, where my best friend's father is hiding. Two years before I left he got kicked out, from killing her mother. Ever since I left the vault I've been following his trail, he didn't move very quickly. He got comfortable in Megaton for a while until he felt like he was being followed. Once you murder someone, their blood sparks something in you a new sense, a sixth sense you could say. You feel the need to constantly move; if you stay in a place too long you get antsy. Apparently he didn't have that feeling until he knew someone was there for him. He moved across the map. Megaton to Rivet city, Rivet city to Canterbury commons, Canterbury commons to Andale. I followed him only five steps behind him, just enough for him not to see me but enough for me to see him. I hunted him for a year, but they I found a poster pinned to a wooden post, a man's life for a few hundred caps. I knew hunting skills so I tried it and succeeded.

As I wiped the evil doers off the world, her father ran to the safety of a boat headed to Maryland. So now I follow him to the ends of the earth, seeking the sweet but bitter taste of revenge.

"What do you want little lady?" The man looked me up and down.

"I need a ride, isn't it obvious? Why else would I be here?"

"For me, Tobar the handsome? Or perhaps some punga fruit?" He smiled at me showing his yellowed, crooked teeth.

"No, just a ride. I don't trust punga fruit, I'll just stick to jet. So do I need a ticket?"

"Of course, three hundred caps."

"Three hundred? God." I handed him my three hundred caps and in return he gave me a ticket.

"You can sit almost anywhere and we'll be off soon."

* * *

**Hey guys, my friend and I decided to make a Fallout 3 Fanfic. We wrote it together so Megan Hahn made all of Alex's stuff and I did Elizabeth's. So please check out her profile! Please comment and PM either of us if you have need anything else. Thanks, hope you liked it! **

**Melissa: Hey guys, I love it when you comment and tell me I did something wrong or I need to fix something. So thank you so much to all my followers, and readers. You guys better go see what my best friend in the entire world, Megan is all about, if you haven't already! She's awesome and a great writer. She has multiple Fallout poems, she is actually the one who got me into Fallout. So go check out her other Fanfics. Please PM me if you need anything. If you have suggestions for both of us we'd love to hear! Thanks guys! :D **

**Megan: Hey, all thanks for your support I love reading comment and hearing your guys thought, they keep me going. A huge shoutout to my best friend Melissa, she is a joy to write with and a great writer. I incredibly enjoyed writing this not only the fact the Fallout 3 is one of the best games but that Melissa is so much fun to work. I recommend reading her other fantastic writing pieces such as a Nightwing Injustice follow-up and a WOW story. If you have questions, comments, concerns, or suggestions feel free to PM. Thanks all! :D**

**Melissa: I love you Megan… (crying with tears of joy) 3 **

**Megan: I know.**


	2. Chapter 2

_I don't own anything, just my own characters. All Fallout copyright goes to Bethesda._

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**Alexandria**

As I sat down on the boat's wooden benches, I felt something in the wind change, the breeze was cold but had a hint of warmth to it. The same wind I felt when I left the vault, it was opened once again.

"Give me your ticket and we'll be off." Tobar's worn hand was outstretched to me.

"No, I have to go. I'll be back but not today." I removed myself from the bench and ran across the old, weathered dock. I continued to jog between the ruined buildings. To my left there was a group of mercenaries they belonged to the vicious and soulless Talon Company.

Though I am also a mercenary I would never want to be associated with these ruthless killers.

"Look what the Yao guai dragged in." One of the men rammed into me. knocking me backwards off guard.

"Oh, it's the stupid vault dweller bitch." Another one of the men grabbed onto my arm harshly. "Look at our luck, aren't we supposed to kill her?"

"No, boss said we have to bring her in, but he never said we couldn't have a little fun before." The same devilish grin the Overseer had that night, showed on this man's face. "What should we do first?" He reached out to my thigh only lightly touching.

"I wouldn't recommend doing that." With the other man hold my arms behind my back I pushed off of him and moved my legs onto his neck, I twisted my legs as well as my body to get enough momentum to snap his neck. The man holding onto me let go, mostly out of surprise. "We can fight and you will lose or you can go to you boss and tell him that he can go and shove it up his ass. If he wants me then I want him to come and face me, if he agrees tell him I will meet him where the ant queen and robot fight. Four weeks, when the moon is at the peak of the sky."

"Okay, just please don't kill me." He ran off with the look of horror on his face.

I continued on with my back to Megaton, I would go there and rest then gather some supplies and when the sun rises I would start my journey back to my birthplace.

* * *

It is a long walk, not the longest I've taken but it is a quite a walk. My muscles were tired and limp from walking all day long. I walked through the gates, and up the walkways to Moriarty's saloon.

"You look like crap Alex." Gob's peeling face changed to a more concerned look. "Want a drink?"

"Ya, that would be nice. How about a bottle of Vodka?" Drinking is always a nice escape from the reality or the wastes, you feel as if everything is right in the world, but still in the back of your mind you know that is a lie.

"A whole bottle? Why not a few shots?"

"No, I want the whole bottle. Can you get me Moriarty?"

"Yes, of course." He handed me the bottle from under the counter the raced off to the backroom.

A few swigs nothing, a few more a slight buzz, a few more I started to feel better. You know what I really want, Jet. Just one breath of it and the world melts away.

"Alex?" Moriarty's accent brought me out of my thought. "Gob said you needed something."

"Ya, do you perhaps have an unoccupied room?"

"Yes, of course. Hundred caps."

"Here." I handed him the caps and walked up the stairs to the room. As I laid my head on the pillow, I didn't deny myself sleep, the darkness of sleep took over me and cuddled me in her womb.

_The scream of a girl echoed through the metal corridor, I touched the wall as I walked down the hall. As I got closer I recognized a voice, Elizabeth's voice. I hurried my pace trying to get to her, she sat in the middle of the hall, crying over her mother's dead body. Her blood was pooled all around, staining Liz's vault jumpsuit. I tried to call out to her but I had no voice, I tried to run to her but my feet would not move. The Overseer stood next to her, towering over her as if she was a naughty toddler, from behind his back he pulled out a pistol, putting it in her fragile, shaking hands. He gently moved her hand with the gun to her head, then he whispered so inaudible words to her making her pull the trigger._

* * *

**Elizabeth**

It smelled different. It was cool, and different at the same time. Part of me wanted to run back to the door and bang on it till someone let me in. The other part of me wanted to run into the "freedom world" till I couldn't run anymore. I spotted a road in the distance. We better find some place to keep from getting killed.

"Come on." I gestured to the road. Thomas walked next to me as I held the handgun in my right hand. I didn't know who or what was out here, no need to be comfortable yet.

The road was cracked and not taken care of. Some grass peeked out and started to grow in the newly open road. We silently walked together, looking around cautiously.

About ten minutes in, we heard talking, yelling, and laughing in the distance. We both ducked down and looked over a small wall for protection. People walked around, and yelled to each other. They held guns and weapons. I decided we had no need to talk to them. I pointed in front of Thomas and I, telling him to walk quietly and keep going. We continued crouching and silently walking past the unknown people. When I felt we were at a safe distance I stood up and walked to a rock next to the road. Thomas and I sat next to each other. Sweat poured down, and Thomas was panting, trying to catch his breath again. I turned my Pip-boy on to look at a map of the wastelands. I saw the road we ventured on now and looked for some place for us to stay.

"I guess we just continue walking until we find some safe place to stay…" I sighed, looking down at Thomas. We got up and continued on our long, tiring journey.

It was two hours since leaving the Vault. We were tired as we walked in the beating sun. We kept tripping on our own feet and we tried to walk on. Thomas all of a sudden fell. He sat on his knees as he tried to regain some energy.

"Hey, you OK?" I asked, kneeling next to him.

"Ya *cough* *cough* I'll be ok." He panted.

"OK, come here." I picked him 'Piggy back' style. He may be 14, but that doesn't mean he isn't my little brother. I found a little pond of water mixed with radiation. I placed him down next to it. "Go ahead and drink some, but not a lot." He nodded before cupping his hands in the 'water' and drank a little. I did the same so I could also gain some energy.

We walked more on the old road before coming to what looked like an abandoned town. I looked at one of the wooden buildings. It had a giant hole where wood pieces feel to the hard ground. Thomas suddenly let out a surprised shriek. I spun around with my gun ready to shot. He ran over next to me and pointed at something. I looked to see a floating robot. It was circular with antennas. There was a green screen on it that didn't some much. It seemed harmless and it floated right past us and down the road.

"I think it's ok." I told Thomas. He nodded before helping me search around.

"Hey, what's that?" He pointed to something in the distance. I couldn't answer as he ran off in it's direction.

"Thomas, wait!" I yelled and ran after him.

* * *

**Alexandria**

I woke up breathing heavily with a terrible headache, thank god I didn't do Jet last night the headache would be ten time worst then it is at the moment. I've been haunted with these dreams almost every night, they are always about the vault but they are never the same. The small cracks in the metal wall revealed that there was light outside, time for me to go. I as I jogged down the salon's stairs the headache got way worse, I felt like I may pass out. I tried to grab onto the wall but missed; my legs crumbled underneath me, leaving me with no support. I remember my arms and legs being unresponsive, then _bam_ my head hit the floor and I was out.

* * *

**Elizabeth**

He stopped running and stared at the metal wall. Multiple pieces of metal scrap were put together to keep the place protected. A robot stood next to the closed entrance. It looked at us, but didn't attack. Instead, it greeted us.

"Hello friends. Welcome to Megaton. Please come in." He said in a robotic voice before the thin metal doors slid open. Thomas and I looked at each other before walking inside.

We looked around the metal town. People walked around, some greeted each other. Multiple scrap metal buildings were stacked on others.

"Hello, I'm Lucas Simms. Mayor and Sheriff of Megaton." A black man greeted us. He had a hat on and a gun on his back.

"Hi." I answered back.

"Go ahead and make yourself at home. We have saloons and places to rest. Moriarty's place is at the back of town." He said in his deep voice before walking off.

We walked up a set of stairs and around some buildings. We saw a sign pointing in the direction of Moriarty's. We walked that direction before coming to a door. I pushed the door open to a couple people standing or sitting around the place. It was a bar. The bartender had a peeling face. I've heard stories about Ghouls. They really don't seem that bad.

"Eww…" Thomas crossed his arms. I glared down at him in warning. I walked over to the Ghoul and waved.

"Hi." I said nicely.

"What, you aren't going to yell at me, smooth skin?" He flinched.

"Why would I yell at you?" I asked. He seemed a little surprised. "Well, what's your name?"

"Gob. Now, can I, uh, get you two something?" He asked nervously.

"I'd like some Whisky. Thomas? Water?" I asked Thomas. He just nodded. Gob walked off to get our drinks. He raced back holding a bottle of Whisky and some water. I smiled politely as he handed them to us.

"That will be 20 caps." Gob said. I handed him the caps. "Hey, thanks for not yelling…" I just smiled then Thomas and I took a seat on a stair case.

I took a gulp of the Whiskey. I kept glancing at the door. I just felt I was going to see someone or something.

"Hey, I'll be right back." I told Thomas before taking my Whiskey and self upstairs. There were rooms with a couple beds. 'Thomas and I will be able to rest here tonight' I thought.

* * *

**Alexandra**

I woke up to Doc Church's face looking down at me. "How you feeling?"

"Like shit, I feel like I broke my arm and I still have a hangover." I tried to push myself up with my left arm but it couldn't support me.

"It's not just a hangover, you were poisoned."

"Poisoned? How?" I don't think Gob would poison me and I'm pretty sure I didn't drink anything else someone gave me.

"I'm not sure but my test results say it was some Radscorpion venom, even in a very little dose it can be extremely deadly. How does your left arm feel?"

"It hurts but I'll be fine." I got up this time using my right arm. "I have things to do, so can we hurry this up."

"Yes, take these and I'll wrap up your arm." He handed me a couple white pills and started to fix up my arm. "There done, the pills should help you feel better, but I recommend not taking drinks from strangers anymore."

"Thanks doc." I headed out the door and back up to the saloon. For some reason I felt the urge to have something else to drink. I walked through and sat on the bar stool, " Gob can I have a bottle of whiskey?"

"Yes, of course. How you feeling?"

"Better I have a messed up arm and I was poisoned, did you see me drink any drinks that someone bought for me?"

"No, not to my knowledge at least."

"Did I drop anything when I fell?" I reached up to my neck to toy with my necklace but there was nothing there. "Damnit, have you seen a ring connected to a necklace?"

* * *

**Elizabeth**

I walked back downstairs and sat down next to Thomas. A new girl was sitting at the bar talking to Gob. I slightly listened and enjoyed my Whiskey.

"-Dammit, have you seen a ring connected to a necklace?" She asked. I remembered the ring I gave to Alex when she was in the Vault. She had also connected into a necklace. Now i was more intent on listening. Gob then handed her the ring necklace she had dropped and she placed it back around her neck.

"Why is it so important, if I may ask."

"It was from someone really important to me back home."

"Home? You know you've never told me about where you're from."

"Vault 100 a bunch of lunatics trapped inside a Vault door." I almost spit out my Whiskey as I heard Vault 100.

"Alex?" I suddenly asked the girl with dark black hair and grey eyes.

"Elizabeth, what are you doing here?" She asked walking over to Thomas and I.

"I had to get out of the hell hole…" I sighed. Thomas looked confused as he looked up at Alex.

"Thomas? Oh my god you're so big. Why did you take him with you? This is not a place for children."

"What? You think I'd ever leave him in the vault? Even after I broke the Overseer's sons nose?"

"Though I hate to say this, the vault is much safer than out here, at least in the vault he wouldn't be killed by some mutated creature. The Overseer wouldn't have killed him, probably just beat him a bit and stick him in a conner. But he would be much less likely to die in the hands of a wastelander." She ran her fingers through her hair. I stood up, placing my Whiskey on the stair.

"He's safer with me. I wouldn't _dare_ let the overseer beat him. He's been beaten to many times..." I didn't want to be mad at her...but I couldn't help it as I started to glare at her. Thomas continued the confused look as he glance between Alex and I. I glanced down as I felt tears in my eyes.

"I don't think you understand what is out there. What did you see on your way here some raiders or perhaps a mole rat? That is nothing there is shit out there that you couldn't even imagine in your worst dreams. Have you ever been attacked by a group or deathclaws? No, this is no place for some vault dwellers that think everything is perfect out here. If you think you're going to end up getting killed. I would take getting beaten by the Overseer anyday, over this irritated hell."

"What happened to you!? We walked two hours trying to get here without being seen. Why would you even think about telling us to go back to the Vault? You hated it there. Why wouldn't we live because to me, you look just fine!" I couldn't help the tears as that raced down my cheeks.

"Come on." She grabbed my arm and dragged me outside. Thomas ran after us. "It's not safe here, not only are there mutated creatures but there are bloodthirsty killers everywhere." She paused for a moment. "I found your father."

My watery eyes grew wide in shock. "He's still alive?" I asked and my body started to shake. Thomas also looked scared at the memory of being beaten by his own father.

"Thomas, can you please go inside, go talk to Gob for a little bit." Thomas nodded and walked back inside.

"Once I left I started to look for him, I found him shortly after. He didn't stop his killing spree, he felt the urge for more blood. But he didn't act like most insane people in his shoes, he knew I was there and started to run away. He traveled everywhere with me on his tail. But I lost him."

"I'm sorry, but I can't go back. Even if my father is out there… I'm happy to know you're there and trying to catch him though." I smiled slightly. "I could help you, you know." I suggested.

"How could you help? Sure you know how to shoot a gun but do you know anything else about the wasteland? Like which water is good and which will kill you? Or who you should avoid? It's not that simple there is a lot more to surviving than know how to make a gun go bang. He is in Maryland do you have any idea what Maryland is?"

"No, but that doesn't mean I can't help. He's after me, if he knows I'm here he'll go after Thomas and I. Don't you want to be there to catch him if he's after me? I can't just sit and wait. What if he kills you too? I really want to help. I'll find some place for Thomas to stay so he won't get in the way."

"I'm not worried about if he kills me or not, but if you want revenge that badly I will allow you to tag along. You must listen very closely to every word I say. You not understanding a single word could be the death of you."

"Ok, I , could we find a place for Thomas? He needs to be in a place that I know I can trust."

"Yes, I know a few people we can put him with. There is one guy up in the D.C. area, there are Super Mutants. But the Brotherhood protects the place pretty well. Also we could put him in Rivet city, though all the people there are pretty creepy."

"Wherever you think is the safest." I shrugged "Hey Alex…thanks." I suddenly hugged her, she was my best friend, and now I could finally see her again.

"Ya, by the way I'm not a hugging person." She pushed me away. "We'll head up to GNR tomorrow. But right now I have poison in my system and really need to get drunk."

I gave her a weird look before shrugging. "Ok, I've needed to get drunk for a while too I guess."

I followed her back inside Moriarty's. It would be fun to catch up and laugh at all our childhood memories.

* * *

**Alexandria **

This time I woke up with a even worst headache than yesterday, maybe drinking every night isn't the best way to live, at least I was pretty sure I wasn't poisoned last night. I looked around to see Thomas and Liz on the bed, Thomas snored softly. I walked outside, the air was brisk but comfortable, then down to the Craterside supply shop.

"Hi, Moira. I need to get some armour some that would fit someone my size but skinnier and some that would fit a 14 year old boy."

"Of course how does this look?" She pulled out some leather armor for Liz and some lightweight metal armor for Thomas.

"Great, thanks." I pulled out the due caps and handed them to her. I walked back up to the room to see Liz was finally awake. "Here take these and and drink all of this." I tossed her some purified water and a couple white pills. "The pills will subside the headache and the water, well clean water is very valuable. If you drank some irradiated water yesterday you'll probably be pretty sick today. In the vault the water is clean but out here we don't have that, so your body has to get use to it."

"Thanks." She said quietly.

"You should wake him up, we have a long trip today. Also put this on, the vault jumpsuits don't do much for protection." I handed her the leather armor.

"Hey, Thomas. Get up. We have a long ways to go. Alex has some armor for you also."

When I said it was going to be a long trip I wasn't just saying that, this wasn't going to be an easy journey, nothing ever is in the Wasteland.

* * *

**Here's the second chapter to me and Megan Hahn's Fallout 3 fanfic. Hope you enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed writing it. Please check out Megan Hahn and her storied too! As always please comment, thanks guys! **

**Melissa: Hey guys! We tried to act like Alex and Liz...It didn't work too well…anyway. Please comment and help us get better at writing these stories. We'd also like to hear if you enjoyed the two people writing one story and working together, so then we know to do it again or not. (We'll do it again even if you didn't like muhaha...I can't do an evil laugh) Megan is an awesome person so please check out her other stories. Please PM one of us or both, we love to see what you guys have to say. If you have any suggestions, please tell us! If you'd like us to do a story on your favorite video game/ book/ or show we might be able to do it. Thank you! I just can't say thanks enough! **

**Megan: Hey ya'll, how ya do? Good? Good. We really enjoy combining our efforts to make this story happen, Melissa is a great and very helpful (she has to fix like all of my grammar and spelling), she is just awesome. Also check out her other stories. If you have any comments, questions, concerns, or suggestions feel free to PM one or both of us. Thanks ya'll for your support!**


	3. Chapter 3

_I don't own anything, just my own characters. All Fallout copyright goes to Bethesda._

* * *

**Alexandria**

Once Elizabeth and Thomas got up and moving the dirty wasteland water finally got to them. Thomas was the first one to get the nauseous feeling, I pointed out the bathroom below the stairs for him you use. We headed down to the the food booth outside the Brass lantern I decided on some sugar bombs while they picked a safer food, an apple and a pear. Once we got outside the gate they both proceeded to throw up their breakfasts. It was a stop and go walk all the way to the Super-Duper Mart; though there was nothing left in their stomachs, they would bend over, while their bodies had the throwing up convulsions.

"We'll stop up at this river for a bit, to the south there are Super mutants, farther south there are Mirelurks, and in the mart there are raiders. If you want something to drink, you could drink as long as you don't mind getting more sick. But if you don't I have some clean bottled water." I pulled out of my backpack two crystal clear waters and handed one to each of them. "I'll just stick to the irritated water." I said as we walked closer to the river I scooped up some to drink it, water with radiation embedded into it's hydrogen atoms always tastes a bit like rust, but today this water tasted like blood. I looked up stream, wondering if I was drinking someone's blood.

"But Alex, we can't just take your water…" Liz's voice was hushed by my thinking.

Arguing with her was pointless and at the moment I had something more important to do than argue. "Stay here for a minute and take this." I handed her one of my hunting rifles with a few cartridges.

* * *

**Elizabeth**

"Stop being paranoid…" Thomas said with a clogged nose.

"Ya, go ahead and be comfortable in a place full of mutants." I rolled my eyes. We continued waiting for Alex, my head still snapping in the direction of any small noise.

* * *

**Alexandria**

I continued up the river, searching for any signs of where the blood had came from. After a couple of minutes of walking I decide to turn back until I saw what looked like a body. When I got there it was too late, her body was sprawled out over the rock and dirt, from her head blood dripped out running into the river. Her dead fish eye's looked up at me as if begging me to help her; this was a common sight in the wastes. There was nothing more I could do, but her eyes scared me so I closed them.

* * *

**Elizabeth**

"It was nothing, sorry just my hunter reflexes overreacting. "Let's continue, we have to have to travel through the Metros now. They aren't that bad but there are quite a few mole rats and federal ghouls. Do you know what a federal ghoul is?" Alex asked.

"No." I shook my head.

"Gob is a ghoul and for the most part they are pretty friendly, some just hate smoothskins. But federal ghouls are very aggressive, very irritated, and need to be killed. So if you see one kill it." I knew I had a horrified, confused look, but I shrugged and went with it.

"Understood." I nodded.

"Ready? Oh almost forgot, here Thomas take this." She handed him a Pistol. "I'd rather you not shot anything but if you have to, you have something to do it with." He nodded before placing it on his belt.

"Hey Alex?" He asked, looking up at her grey eyes. "Where are we going?"

_What should we tell him? _Alex mouthed to me. _The truth? _

I thought for a second before shaking my head. _Don't tell him we are going after our father, he will want to come along. _I mouthed back. 'He's as stubborn as me' I thought in my head.

She gave me a confused look. I rolled my eyes. "We're going to go see an old friend of mine. He lives up in the D.C. ruins, the ones they talk about in class." She told Thomas.

He looked back at me. I smiled and nodded.

"We could take the longer way but we would have to go through Super muties and centaurs, in less you know how to swim. What am I saying there is no water for you guys to swim how would you know how to swim."

I gave her a confused look as she rambled. Then shrugged. "You know this place the best. Whatever _you think_ we can 'survive'." I crossed my arms and looked in another direction. I still didn't want to be mad, I had no reason to. She was just trying to save us…

"Well if you can't swim, then going up to Rivet city is a no go for the time being. Well just cross the river up here." Alex started walking through the river.

I followed with Thomas close behind. I still didn't uncross my arms. What was wrong with me? Why do I have to be so mad? She was my best friend, and now I get to see her again. Shouldn't I enjoy it? But she changed… She wasn't little girl Alexandra from Vault 100. She's tough Alex who can survive in the unknown wastelands.

We continued walking about half a mile of our journey until Alex stopped at the Metro Gates. She tried to pull the gates open but they didn't budge. "Give me a second and I'll have this off." She kneeled down and pulled a bobby pin out of her hair. Then she removed a screwdriver from her pocket and started to pick the lock. "We're in. Let's blow this pop stand." She said when the gate opened. I rolled my eyes at the old joke. I heard Thomas chuckle.

* * *

**Alexandria**

We all walked down the dimly lit corridor, until I turned off to the right into a office holding a protectron captive. "Do you know how to hack the computer Liz?" This metro would be much easier to clear out with a protectron on our side.

"Actually I have done some hacking. Would you like me to do the honors?" Her lips showed a sly smile.

"Please do." I motioned toward the computer.

She methodically hacked away at the computer, till she mirrored my motion to the computer.

"Can you unlock the protectron? Before you do that see if you can get into it's mainframe and tell it to kill everything in sight."

"Sure Alex. Do you really want it to kill _everything?_" She crossed her arms.

"Yes, I am sure. Once the capsule opens run to the bathroom, the people who created these weren't very smart. They forgot to program opening doors into their abilities, so as long as we close the door we'll be okay."

She typed a few things into the computer, then the compressed air escaped as the capsule started to open.

"Go, out the door to the left." I started to run to the bathroom, waiting for everyone to enter before closing the old metal door.

* * *

**Elizabeth**

We sat there for about thirty minutes."Let's go, we'll have to kill it. But other than him we should have no threats." Alex said. We walked through the station, seeing multiple dead corpses laying around with blood splattered around everywhere. We got to the exit and suddenly heard a robotic voice.

"Hostilities in area."

Alex pulled out her shotgun and blew its head off. The loud bang made me slightly jump. "Taken care of. This is the exit, obviously." She opened the door, strange noises fell in from the opened door. "Shit, keep quiet and stay low. This is where it gets hard."

I gave her a worried look. "What are those…?" I whispered.

* * *

**Hey guys! Here's chapter three of The Burn of Radiation! We really enjoy working together and love writing this story. Please comment or PM one of us! Thanks so much! P.S. school has started for both of us and juggling homework, essays, home stuff and writing is a hassle, we will try to update this as often as we can but it's hard to keep up with everything. So don't expect to get an update every day like we've been doing for the first three chapters. **

**Megan: Yay! I'm on top! I feel like I'm on top of the world! :D Okay over it. So yes we are coming up with another one of these stories but it's still in the making, and won't be posted for quite some time. I like this chapter the whole back and forth thing with the two and I hope you did too. I've said this before and I'll say it again, check out Melissa she is great and deserves tons of views and comments. If you have anything you need answered or perhaps written about, PM one or both of us. We'll usually get back to you the same day or the day afterward, but I promise you we will get back to you. Thanks you everyone for your incredible support.**

**Melissa: Hey! We have decided to do another one of these stories together, but we have to finish this one first, and I'm not going to tell you want it will be about! So we are just going to keep you miserably waiting. (I'm not even going to try to do an evil laugh.) Haha and yes, I let Megan be on top this time, she deserved it! She's an awesome writer and just an amazing person! So please go check out Megan Hahn's stories! If you don't go look at her stories, I'll hunt you down and-uh, sorry, excuse me for a moment… So, if you like Fallout, she's got a bunch of poems and fanfics about it. So feel free PM one of us or both of us if you have comments or suggestions. We will try really hard to get back to you. We love what you guys have to say! Thank you guys so much for being there and supporting us! :D **

**Shoutout to jimbo74****, thanks for your comment and constant support. We appreciate everything you do, keep it up!**

**Update: Melissa and I(this is Megan speaking) have deiced to start another one of these stories with the both of us collaborating on it. We haven't decided yet on what we are going to do, we are leaning more towards Fallout:NV but if you'd like us to write about your favorite game tell us. We are open to almost everything, the exception being super childish games or games that we have no interest in. If you have a suggestion you'd like us to write about PM me, my profile is Megan Hahn. P.S. Melissa doesn't know that I wrote this so if you'd rather PM her that's fine just tell her to read this. Thanks all and I hope to hear from you!**


	4. Chapter 4

_I don't own anything, just my own characters. All Fallout copyright goes to Bethesda._

* * *

**Alexandria**

"Alex, what the hell is that?" Liz's voice sounded more frightened this time.

"Super mutants, just be quiet and we'll be fine." We slowly walked up the stairs and to the left .There were more Super Muties here than I expected, the Brotherhood was probably having it pretty bad. We turned silently around the brick wall. "Shh, I am not sure where the Brotherhood is, also if they see you make sure they know you're not a threat."

"And how should we do that, exactly?"

"Just put down your gun, but that's only if they are jumpy. Most of the guys patrolling the GNR plasa know me." We turned around another corner there was an old rusted playground and a destroyed building. From where we were I didn't see any up there, that was good. We walked through the building making sure not to make any unnecessary noise. As we navigated the ruined building we found the exit.

"Freeze!" A couple of BoS soldiers pointed their guns at us. "State your business."

"We are here to see Three Dog, is Sarah here?" I lowered my shotgun to the ground, then returned to raising my hands.

"How do you know of her?"

"Does it really matter, just get me her." I had no interest in talking aimlessly with these soldiers.

"Give me a second, Branden stay here and watch them. Make sure they don't move." One of the soldiers walked up to the GNR building's large door and buzzed on the intercom. I couldn't what he said but in response a blond haired woman came out of the doors and up to us.

"Alexandria what are you doing here?" Her young face seemed to aged since the last time I saw her, I guess stress does that to you.

"I need to make some arrangements with you, can we go somewhere private?"

"Ya, let's go inside." We all followed her inside.

"Thomas can you stay here in the lobby we'll be back down in a minute?" He looked over to me and nodded. "We also need to talk to Three Dog."

"Okay, let's go to the broadcasting room." We walked up the main stairs and then up some more. "You have some visitors!"

Three Dog came out of the broadcasting room. "Alex!" His eyes widened as he forced me into a hug. "How you doing?"

"Good, I have some things I need to talk to you two about. This is Elizabeth, she is also from vault 100." I glanced over at her but she didn't reply. "She escaped with her little brother he is only 14, and we were wondering if we could let him stay with you or send him to the Citadel. I understand the Citadel is a long shot but just anywhere that is safe is fine by me."

I think I heard Liz whisper, "Please."

"Ya, that's fine by me. I mean as long as I'm not stuck with him for the rest of my life." Three Dog joked with a smile on his face.

"No, we are just going to the coast of Maryland." I am definitely relieved he is such a good guy. "Thank you, we're going to go get him and tell him." I looked over to Elizabeth trying to comfort her a bit. We walked out the door and down a set of satires. "I'll just stay here, when you're done come back here."

"Ok."

* * *

**Elizabeth**

I walked over to Thomas who stood with his arms crossed. "What?" He asked.

"Umm, we are going to have you stay here with Three Dog. He knows Alex, and he's a really nice guy. He is the host of a radio station, I believe.."

He looked up at me for a few seconds before shrugging. "Ok."

I smiled down at him. "Thanks, please behave." I laughed then I quickly hugged him. He hugged back. "Please be safe." I whispered in his ear. He didn't know the danger I might be going into but I couldn't tell him, not yet. I let go and smiled before walking back over to Alex. "Ok." I slightly smiled.

I walked with Alex as we walked back to the broadcasting room. "Thanks, again. This is Thomas." She motioned to Thomas.

He waved and smiled. "Hi."

"Really. I can't thank you enough." I smiled to Sarah and Three Dog.

"Okay, we have to go. We'll hopefully be back within a week." Alex said. I waved to them before looking back to Thomas. I smiled and waved at him. He waved back. I held back the tears as they threatened to escape.

Alex and I headed back outside. We made sure to dodge all the Super Mutants, and through the Metro. This was going to be the start of a long journey. "So wanna learn how to swim?" Alex asked.

I shrugged. "Sure."

We spent a few hours teaching me to swim. It actually wasn't as hard as I predicted. Soon enough I was swimming and able to keep my head over the radiation water.

"Take a few of these." She handed me a couple pills. "They will help the radiation not affect you as much." I nodded and swallowed the pills. We continued down the river, and made sure to stay out of sight. The river started to flow into the ocean. Sooner than we knew, the docks were right there, in our reach.

"That boat there is our ride. You can pay for your own ticket if you have the money, or I could pay for it." Alex smiled at me.

I pulled out my remaining twenty bottle caps. "Is this enough?"

"No, not even remotely. It's three hundred." She pulled out the remaining needed caps. "Here go get a ticket from Tobar and hopefully we'll be able to leave soon."

"Sorry...Thanks for helping pay." I smiled.

* * *

**Hey guys! Hope you enjoyed chapter 4 of The Burn of Radiation (ps sorry for how short it was, it was kinda a transition chapter).**

**Megan: Yay, I'm on top again. Hey all, fourth chapter is up, obviously. This chapter was fun, but I mostly enjoy writing with Melissa. Please check her out! If you have any question, concerns, comments, or suggestions feel free to PM one or both of us. Thanks a bunch for reading and supporting us, as always comment and have a great day. :D**

**Melissa: Hey! Is everyone excited for chapter 4!? It was really fun. But the best part is working with my best friend in the entire world, Megan. Please check out her work. She's an awesome writer. Do you like Fallout? Well so does she! Go check out her poems and stories! She's the person who got me into Fallout. She means the world to me, so go check her writing right now! Well thanks so much for reading! If you haven't read chapters 1, 2, or 3 go check 'em out! Megan and I do plan to work together more. Please comment and/or PM us if you have any suggestions, questions, or just want to say something. Thanks so much! :3**

**Update: Melissa and I(this is Megan speaking) have deiced to start another one of these stories with the both of us collaborating on it. We haven't decided yet on what we are going to do, we are leaning more towards Fallout:NV but if you'd like us to write about your favorite game tell us. We are open to almost everything, the exception being super childish games or games that we have no interest in. If you have a suggestion you'd like us to write about PM me, my profile is Megan Hahn. P.S. Melissa doesn't know that I wrote this so if you'd rather PM her that's fine just tell her to read this. Thanks all and I hope to hear from you!**


	5. Chapter 5

_I don't own anything, just my own characters. All Fallout copyright goes to Bethesda._

* * *

**Alexandria**

Though the boat ride was only two hours long it was one of the worst things that I've ever done in my life, poking a sleeping radscorpion is higher than it on the list. As the boat swayed up and down I started to feeling sick, Liz kept trying to make conversation but I had no desire to talk for the fear of throwing up. She was starting to feel better and even able to eat some Mole rat meat, though she didn't really like it. When I first escaped to the wasteland I hated the food, I though all of it tasted kind of like dirt and stopped eating. Shortly afterward I found out about MREs and fell in love with them, sure they weren't warm and tasty vault food, but at least it was a whole meal that didn't have a the same taste as dirt.

Today's adventure had worn both of us out so we decided to slip down stairs and get some rest. I let her take the cot and I slept upright in the chair next to it.

* * *

I ran up to the building trying to force open the door, but it wouldn't budge. Liz was next to me she cried mumbling something about her brother. We backed up a few feet to see a super mutant behemoth holding Thomas' limp body. As the mutant saw us he dropped his body, then laughed at us. Liz ran toward his body, she laid her head on his chest then took the gun her holster and shot herself.

* * *

I woke up once again breathing heavily, Tobar's hushed words made me remember where I was; Liz was still sleeping, she looked peaceful so I decide to let her be. I slightly open the door to be able to hear him better and see who he was talking to. The girl didn't seem conscious; she was probably in her twenties, her head was shaved and she had a large recent looking scar running along her shaved scalp. Why was she here? What was he doing with her? Wasn't my problem, we should probably get going before we end up in that chair. The sun was just rising so we had some time before we had to go. I wanted to explore around, but Liz was still sleeping. Maybe I'd just slip out and come back before she woke up.

I snuck out the door making sure not to wake Liz or have Tobar see me, the landscape was beautiful. Behind me was the never ending ocean and in front a pre-war wheel thing. I wonder what it did back then, there were little bucket like thing maybe big enough to hold four people in it. There were little shops scattered along the dock sadly all of them were boarded up, probably boarded up even before the bombs fell. There was no one around that was most likely for the best. I got a little lost where there were nonstop building and I felt trapped, so instead of going back from where I came I climbed up on one of the shop's roofs. From there I could only see part of the marshes. There were trees but not the green ones you're told about in the vault, they were old and decayed. Not exactly like the ones in the wasteland, these ones were darkened but the filthy water they drank.

I pulled out my binoculars to be able to see the area a bit better. There was slight movement, a bloatfly here and there, but there was something else, a human-like thing. It had excess skin on his body and a deformed face as well as backbone. I was really hoping that we wouldn't have to encounter one; hopefully they'd just stay in the trees. The sun had just fully emerged over the water. It was starting to get pretty bright, so I reached into my backpack and grabbed a pair of aviator sunglasses and headed back to the boat.

* * *

** Elizabeth**

I woke up alone in the room. Alex was nowhere to be found and Tobar was talking to some girl. I sneaked past him and walked outside the boat. I had to look for Alex but I also wanted to search around. Maybe I could find something the would help us. I just hoped to not find the familiar face of my father, yet.

* * *

I walked into a room and searched around. A bed was placed next to the wall on my right. Then a bathroom was located near the back. I walked into the bathroom with my gun in the ready position. There was an old, white toilet and sink. I sighed in relief to find no one in the room. I was about to exit when a small piece of paper caught my eye. A note laid on the old bed.

_Mission: Hack computer, get instructions to poison river._

_Location: Rockopolis_

I didn't read the rest, I didn't have to. I knew who's note this was. It was my dad's. This is why he was after me. I knew the password to the computer, I knew the location. His boss had given my dad a mission. After mom saw the horrific mission, she tore the password off the note. She'd never allow father to kill that many people. She had told me the password and to always keep it from father. I agreed and have kept it from him, and attend to keep it secret till the day I died.

I heard the door handle slide. I spun around to face the door. The grip on my gun wasn't that good as my gun flew across the room. My chest heaved as my breathing quickened. I started to shake as the door slid open more. My father was walking in...He was going to see me out of the protection of the Vault.

* * *

**Alexandria**

When I got back to the boat no one was laying on the cot. "Shit Liz, why do you always have to run off?" I raised my hands up as if the world would answer me. I walked up to where Tobar was; thankfully the girl was gone. "Thanks for the ride; we should be back here in about a week for a ride back. Also do you perhaps know where Elizabeth ran off to?"

"Nope, sorry kiddo." He smiled creepily at me. "I'll try to be here by then but if I'm not you'll just have to swim back."

"Ya, okay." I walked back onto the dock, and started my search for her. I decided just to get on the roof before I got lost again. From where I was at this time I could see a mansion and a large flashlight stand straight upward, I think they're call lighthouses. Maybe if I could find Liz again we could sight-see a bit. I'm not sure what she was thinking, sure she may know how to shoot a gun but I'm not sure if she can actually hit what she's aiming at. I really hope she hasn't met any of the woodland creatures.

I surveyed the area for a bit, trying to find some movement but I had no such luck. She had to be somewhere around here at least I hope she wouldn't be dumb enough to run off very far. I jumped down and headed towards the left this time, trying not to get lost on the right side. As I walked farther I found out I was not alone here, there was a small booth that had various wares with no one to sell them. After I hopped over the railing of some sort of miniature car rink I decided to head over to the inn across the street in hopes of finding her there.

* * *

** Elizabeth**

The door slid open and before seeing the full figure, I lunged at the person. I elbowed their neck as my other hand flew to the knife in its holster. I pulled it out and slashed into their stomach. It didn't do much, they wore some kind of armor. The unknown person grabbed my arm and pushed me down. I smashed onto the floor with an aching back. I finally focused on the person.

"Alex!?" I questioned.

"God damn, Liz you ripped my new vest." She lifted her knee off of my chest.

"Ya, well thanks for almost breaking my arm." I glared at her.

"At least I didn't kill you."

"Well if you'd let go of my arm I'd show you what I found."

"Fine, show me what you got. Just next time we go on a road trip don't run off." She released my arm as I rubbed it tenderly.

"Thanks...Here." I handed her my fathers note.

She scanned it for a few seconds, she always was a slow reader. "Rockopolis? Isn't that where Herbert Daring Dashwood's hideout is?"

I shrugged. "I don't know, but that's where my father may be going. That's his mission and the reason he's after me and Thomas…" I sighed.

"Well he must be super lost because from what I heard it somewhere in the D.C. ruins area, Northish of the vault. Does he need to get something else to go there, or was he just trying to lose me?"

"Probably trying to lose you. But he is making some type of poison. He could have needed an ingredient."

"A poison? How bad could some little poison be?"

"Well, it's some unknown poison that he plans to put in the river. How dangerous does that sound?" I asked sarcastically.

"If it's in a high dosage it could be bad but it couldn't be that bad."

I shrugged again. "Maybe you should ask him…" I rolled my eyes.

"Okay, I will when we find him. Now let's get to it."

I nodded and picked up my gun. "Lets go."

* * *

**Alexandria**

She headed out of the inn's doors. "So if he left his important note there, do you think we should stake out here and wait for him?"

"If you'd like to. But I'm not quite sure if he'd come back anytime near now. But we could wait and maybe do patrols every now and then." She answered back.

"Patrols? Like one of us stay here and the other explorers?" I crossed my arms.

"Ya. I mean, if you think that's a good idea."

"Hell no, that's one of the dumbest ideas I've heard in a long time. I am not leaving you anywhere alone, ever."

She looked down at her feet. "Okay, sorry. What do you think we should do? We could always explore around this area together." She shrugged.

"Ya, we'll just explore a bit and see if we can get any hints of where your father is right now. Then we could come back at dusk."

She nodded in agreement.

"So where to next, I saw a mansion and a lighthouse that way." I pointed forward.

"Okay, I'll follow you."

"Be careful, we don't know what is out here." We started to walk toward the was walking on my right, I didn't want her next to the swamp just in case something jumped out. Every minute or so I'd look over and I'd swear something was watching me. "It's only a little farther."

"Alright." She looked at her gun then up at me. "Do I need it ready?" She questioned.

"Ya, probably a good idea. Have you shot it at all?"

"No, not yet. Only the handgun."

"What is it nine or ten millimeter?"

"Nine."

"Girl's caliber, let me see it."

She pulled out her gun and handed it to me. "It was from the Vault. Of course it's terrible."

I took out the magazine and look at it for a second. "This is ten." I pulled out a few magazines. "Keep these if you run out of these just tell me, I have more. Also you can still always use the rifle, it just has a pretty bad kick."

"Okay, thanks."

We neared the door and I motioned for Liz to get behind me. The door was heavy and made of old wood, as we swung open the door it let out a moan. As we stepped inside the front room there was nothing but a few dressers. We walked into the next room where a man yelled at us.

"Who the fuck are you? Are you a tribal?" A ghoul with a slight British accent held a gun to us.

"Just sightseers, asshole. Now put you gun down before I shoot you leg off."

"Alex…" Liz whispered behind me, as she touched me on the shoulder. "We don't have a reason to hurt him, yet."

"Yet." I whispered back.

"This is my mansion and I'm the one with the advantage here." He motioned toward his multiple dogs and turrets.

"Please sir, we were just looking. We are very sorry." Liz tried to negotiate with him.

"I have no problem with putting down everyone of your dogs. Now I would advise you put your gun down so we can talk." I continued as if Liz hadn't said anything. "I'll put mine away if you do the same."

The man put his gun down and told his dogs to sit. "I am Desmond Lockheart and this is Calvert Mansion. Now who the fuck are you and why are you here?"

"I'm Elizabeth, this is Alexandria. We are just looking for a man, he has dark brown hair and green eyes."

"I haven't seen him, I would've noticed him. All the people around here are deformed or crazy. Miss. Elizabeth you need to keep your friend on a tighter leash."

"Oh hell no! Now the gloves are off asshole!" I started to walk towards him until Liz grabbed my shoulder.

"Alex, please. And yes sir, I agree." She glared at me. "I'm sorry we disturbed you. Thanks for your time." She smiled politely. Then she dragged me out of the mansion before I had time to rip his voice box out.

"Now where are we going to go?" I asked simply.

She continued to glare at me. "Please stop doing that. You need to let anyone say anything to you and not try to rip them apart. All we needed was to ask about my father then leave." She paused. "You said there was a lighthouse?"

"In my line of work that's how we get a job done, shoot first ask questions later. Yes, but I think Mr. grumpy ass owns it. Actually who cares, let's go check it out."

"Okay, come on."

* * *

**Elizabeth**

I followed Alex as we walked to the lighthouse. I agree the older man was being rude and she had all rights to rip him apart, but thats not what we are here for. I didn't want to risk the fight against all those dogs he had.

"How much further?" I asked.

"Only across this water." She pointed to an island across from the water.

We both stepped into the cold water and swam until we reached land again.

"Let's see if the door's locked." She motioned towards the lighthouse door.

I nodded and followed her to the door.

"It's open." She said and slid the door open. She walked in front as we walked up the spiral stairs. "Well I don't think your dad is in here but if you'd like we can go to the top. Though the stairs look kinda sketchy and break when we walk on them."

"Okay, we should probably go back to the room. It's almost dark out. Let's head back."

We quickly walked back to the room. It was getting darker and darker while we walked.

"Go hide in the bathroom. I'll sit on the bed and wait for your father. I'll try to stay awake." Alex said when we got back. I nodded and went into the bathroom and closed the door. I looked in the old mirror at my reflection. My once neat brown hair was messy and damp. I didn't look like myself anymore.

* * *

I estimated I had sat there for about an hour. I finally walked out to the room where Alex sat. I looked over to the bed to see her asleep. I rolled my eyes but couldn't help it as I smiled. She was still her old self. I decided to walk outside. I quietly opened the door. It was still dark and the moon shined light down through the land. But I felt uneasy as I thought someone was watching me. I saw a dark figure move in the corner of my vision.

* * *

**Alexandria**

Through I tried to stay awake, I didn't. I had no dreams that night just hollow blackness. "Alex! Help!" I jumped out of the bed and to the bathroom to find it empty. "God damn it, why can't you just stay in one place?" I rushed out of the motel's broken door.

I saw Elizabeth being held by a dark figure, he held her in a choke hold and had a blindfold over her eyes. I saw the figure pull out a needle and stick it in her neck. "Alex, you finally found me. It's so nice of you to bring me a present." Joseph dropped Elizabeth's frail body to the ground.

"What do you need her for?" I drew my gun, so if he did anything stupid I could just shot off a body part.

"Oh, I see she never told you." He came closer to me so in the dim light I could see his evil face.

"Told me what?" I needed to stall him, if I did anything too quickly she could lose her life.

"She has the plans to destroy you and everyone else in the pitiful wasteland."

"You're lying. Why would she have anything against the wasteland?"

"I guess you don't know her well enough. She isn't here to kill me, she's here to give me everything so I can carry out our plan. Her mother just got in the way, she had to be removed. You understand killing people for a purpose right? I mean you are a bounty hunter and all."

"Don't you ever compare me to you. I'm not some cold-blooded killer that goes around the wastes killing and raping."

"But you and I are so alike. We are two of a kind." He smiled evilly. "My daughter found her team, thats with me. Why don't you notice how great of a team all three of us can be?"

"Because I'm not going to screw over the wasteland for my own power." I reached for my knife putting my shotgun back in it hostler. "And you're not going to either."

"That's what you think, bitch."

Liz groaned as she sat up and rubbed her head. "Alex?" She asked surprised.

"Shut up." I lounged at Joseph cutting into his arm he cried out in agony then pulled out his own knife.

"Let's dance bitch." He growled.

* * *

**Elizabeth**

I watched them as the wrestled on the ground. I frantically looked around for my gun. My eyes still couldn't focus from the effects of the drug. I tried to get up only to fall back of my back painfully. The two went back and forth between injuring each other. I finally saw my rifle laying on the ground. I crawled over to it weakly. I grabbed the gun and spun around over to Alex and my father. She had him pinned to the ground. I was finally able to stand up as I walked over to them.

"Fuck you." I muttered as tears raced down my cheeks. I shot the gun as my father screamed in pain. The bullet ripped through his shoulder. Alex suddenly fainted from blood loss. She fell to the side of him. He pushed her the rest of the way off and ran off. I watched him disappear then kneeled next to Alex.

"Hey, come on. Please wake up." I prodded her arm.

* * *

** Hey guys. Hope you enjoyed chapter 5, we certainly did(if you couldn't tell by now we enjoy writing all the chapters). Please return as Alex's and Liz's adventure continues. What will happen next? Is Alex still alive? Is Joseph getting away? Same Fallout time, same Fallout channel.**

**Melissa: I had a gecko on my shirt! :D Don't worry, it was Megan's. By the way...Go check out Megan's profile right now! Just right now! She writes awesome poems for Fallout, Mass Effect, and Jak and Daxter. We love to write together, so you should expect more in the future! Hope you liked this action packed chapter! So, like we already said... SAME FALLOUT TIME, SAME FALLOUT CHANNEL! (We feel like a TV show now...I told Megan that her and I should do a YouTube channel) **

**Megan: I'm on bottom. I'm going to make this short. Check out Melissa's profile, PM either of us if you have any questions, comments, concerns, or suggestions. Comment if you would like and thanks for reading.**

**Update: Melissa and I(this is Megan speaking) have deiced to start another one of these stories with the both of us collaborating on it. We haven't decided yet on what we are going to do, we are leaning more towards Fallout:NV but if you'd like us to write about your favorite game tell us. We are open to almost everything, the exception being super childish games or games that we have no interest in. If you have a suggestion you'd like us to write about PM me, my profile is Megan Hahn. P.S. Melissa doesn't know that I wrote this so if you'd rather PM her that's fine just tell her to read this. Thanks all and I hope to hear from you!**


	6. Chapter 6

_I don't own anything, just my own characters. All Fallout copyright goes to Bethesda._

* * *

**Alexandria**

I woke up with a throbbing headache and a lack of awareness of where I was. As my vision started to return to me I could see a darkened outline hovering over top of me.

"Alex!" The figure exclaimed. "How are you feeling?"

I felt around on my body for a few second, finding multiple blood soaked areas. "Not the best. I guess I'm feeling pretty good for having my skin being cut multiple time." I tried to search for my backpack but I couldn't find it. "Elizabeth, I left my backpack in the inn room can you go grab it?"

"Ya, ya. Hold on, I'll go get it." She rushed into the room, disappearing from my sight. She returned with my extremely heavy backpack. "Here."

I painfully turned on my side to reach into the bag, I shuffled through my things, most of it junk, until I found what I was looking for. My trusty medical kit, it's been running dry from all the wounds I've gotten recently."Can you pull the flashlight out of the side pocket and shine it over here?" I probably wouldn't be the best idea to do self-surgery in the dark.

She nodded in agreement and shone it to where I was.

I pulled up my shirt revealing many cuts, Joseph seemed to have ripped off my vest at some point during the fight. I put some antibiotics on the smaller cuts and decided to sow put the larger ones. There was one starting under my breast and running down the my belly button; there was another one running along my right arm, it ran shoulder to wrist. I took a few minutes tenderly binding my skin back together by some string. "There fixed, now let's see if our ride is still here." I tried to stand up but the blood rushed from my head, keeping my body on the ground. I let out a small yelp as my legs fell out from under me.

"Alex…" She paused a moment. "Sorry…" She drooped her head and her dark brown hair fell around her face, hiding her fear. "What are we going to do? I shouldn't have gone outside. It's my fault...everything's my fault."

"It's not your fault you couldn't have known. You don't need to apologize, I just want some answers." As I successfully pulled myself up this time, everything became clear once again. "Damn it! He got away!" I kicked the wall next to intimately regretting it. "I had the chance and he got away, how did he beat me at my own game? How did I lose in a knife fight?"

"Alex, he's not as vulnerable as we think. Fighting him won't be any type of easy." She rose to her feet but still didn't make eye contact.

"Bullshit, I've fought killers that are known for their excellence in combat, and I won. Something's wrong with me, after you showed up I can't concentrate on anything, everything became slightly more blurry once you showed up at my doorstep. I should've been able to take him down without a scratch."

"But Alex you don't know him." She said in a pleading tone as if she wanted me to actually listen to her words. "You don't know who or what he is. You don't understand what his life has been. You don't know how he has been trained…"

"Then how do you expect us to kill him?" I questioned her more angrily, she may be in a fragile state at the moment but I wasn't in the mood to deal with her crying her eyes out.

"I don't know! I just don't know, Alex!" She turned around and yelled at me.

"I'm done. I'm done with chasing after _your _father. I have a life, a real life not one of the made up ones they fabricate in the vault. I have to get back to my friend and save their asses from some slavers. I have to go and hunt down a cold-blooded killer. I have to go kill the source on all my bounties. I have to go and deal with my own life, not yours. Goodbye Elizabeth and have a good life." I turned around and started to walk away, making sure to grab my bag.

* * *

**Elizabeth**

My face turned from anger to sorrow. I watched my best friend walk away. I suddenly fell to my knees. I reached out a hand as if wanting to pull her back. But she was gone. I was alone. Tears streamed down my face like never before. I wanted to stop, I really did. I tried. But they wouldn't. My heart wouldn't stop pounding out of order. My arm dropped and my hair was back to covering my face as I was left to think for myself.

* * *

**Alexandria**

Goddamn it why don't I just think though the things I do? I could've prevented all of this if I just took a second to breathe. I can't leave her out here, she _will _die. She'll be all alone, with no leads on her father. Her escape from the vault would be thoroughly pointless. Why can't I just be less prideful, go back there, and apologize?

This trip took less time than I expected, I thought I'd have to hunt him down here too. I got the note with the ingredients and location so maybe if I go to Rockopolis I'll find him there. I have one and a half weeks before I have to meet up with Shay and Crow, so how about I'll stay with Elizabeth. I still don't fully trust her and I don't want her to know I'm actually going to help but I can't bring myself to leave her all alone.

I turned back around toward the inn. My body was shadowed in the darkness as I jumped on top of the roof. She was doubled over crying, she seemed to be in pain more likely emotional than physical. In the distance I saw a small shop, maybe if I'm lucky I can find a new vest. I silently hopped off the roof and headed toward the building. Inside was a man, he didn't seem to have any deformities and he seemed for the part sane.

"Hi, is this a store?" I cautiously pushed open the door.

"Yes, of course. What do you need?" He kindly smiled at me.

"I need a tactical vest, a backpack, and some food."

The man opened a cabinet behind him. "I got a black one and a camo one. Which one do you want?"

"The black one."

He grabbed a vest and threw it on the counter. "I only have one backpack, it's a leather one, is that okay?"

"That's fine."

He tossed the backpack next to the vest, then walked over to a burlap bag. "I'll give you a deal if you buy all of this."

"Why not?"

"That all?"

"Ya."

He walked over the the counter carrying the burlap sack. "Okay, that'll be 3,500 caps."

"Wow that's cheap. Thanks." I handed him the caps and grabbed what I bought. Once outside I dropped my bag and opened the new one. Shuffling through it I put a few stimpacks, some gauze bandages, half the food, a flashlight with extra batteries, a bottle of pain pills, 1300 caps and extra ammo into the other bag. Then I wrote a note:

_Though I'm gone I'm not going to leave you helpless. This bag has all the essentials, good luck._

I shoved it into the front pocket and took it over to the inn, making sure to sure she didn't see me. It was almost morning, I really hope Elizabeth starts moving. I jumped back onto the roof waiting for her to move out.

* * *

**Elizabeth**

It felt like I sat there on my knees for hours. I kept thinking about my father, Alex, and Thomas. My head was still bowed down. I didn't even look to see my surroundings, I didn't care. A Super Mutant could come out of nowhere and shoot me. My father could come out and shoot me. Alex could come back and shoot me. Thomas could come out and shoot me. I didn't care.

'Alex was right. She has her own life. Why should anyone help you? She has friends, she has a purpose. Why should she waste her time helping some Vault Scum?' A voice argued in my head.

I finally got up and turned around to grab my two guns and knife. But next to my weapons was a backpack. It was black leather. I kneeled down next to it and cautiously looked inside. There was a note on top of everything that had been shoved inside. I took the note out and read it.

_Though I'm gone I'm not going to leave you helpless. This bag has all the essentials, good luck._

It was Alex's hand writing. I wished I could see her again. But she was right to leave. There is no reason she should want to help me. I'm a slow learning, can't protect myself bitch who can't even make her best friend trust her again. I put the note back in and slung the backpack over my shoulders. I then grabbed the weapons and placed them in the holsters. I had to go find Thomas. Him and I would have to figure out how to live. I just hoped father hadn't found him since he knows I'm outside the Vault. So my journey began, except this time I was alone.

* * *

**Hey guys! Here's chapter six! We are really happy you are all reading this, and please do expect more from Megan and I! Thanks so much! Also if you have any suggestions for what our next story is about comment/ PM us about it.**

**Melissa: Hey guys! Hope you liked the chapter, cause I know Megan and I did. This personally was my favorite so far because, you know, there's a new conflict. Two best friends have suddenly split up and who knows what will happen. Will Elizabeth live? Will Alexandria find Liz's dad? Or will Elizabeth find her dad first? You never know. Please go check out Megan's profile! She's a great friend and great writer! We hope you are all liking the series so far. We are going to write more stories with each other, so be ready for more of M&M! Dun dun dun! (That actually sounds pretty awesome, M&M…) anyway. Please comment, pm one or both of us. We love to hear suggestions for a new story you want to see us write and we love reading what you all have to say. We do try to get back to you as soon as possible on pms, so please contact us somehow! Sorry it was so long...but anyway! Thanks guys! Please keep reading! We love the support! **

**Megan: So ya we are on chapter six, yay. Wow my paragraph is puny compared to Melissa's so I won't even try. If you have any questions, comments, concerns, or suggestions feel free to PM us. Check out Melissa, comment and thanks for reading.**

**Melissa continued: P.S ….you should all pm Megan and tell her we should be a YouTube channel! Lol… I'm just kidding, don't do that, unless you want to. I mean, I'm not gonna tell you what to do. **


	7. Chapter 7

_I don't own anything, just my own characters. All Fallout copyright goes to Bethesda._

* * *

**Elizabeth**

I walked with the heavy black backpack on my shoulders. I started walking over to the boating docks. I had to get back to Thomas. I hoped father hadn't gotten to him.

I felt as if someone was there. Not a bad feeling, but like some 'guardian' was there to protect me. I don't know what it was, but I didn't care. I didn't care about anything anymore. Well, I shouldn't say that, I cared about Thomas and keeping him safe, but I didn't care about myself...at all…

It was weird. I had the feeling that I was nothing, nobody. I had the feeling that I was just a mistake, that Thomas was suppose to be an only child. But that thought scared me. If I wasn't here, Thomas would probably be dead, along with Alex and the other wastelanders. 'No, don't be stupid. They'd have a better life without you.' The voice in my head came back. I had the feeling of being nothing ever since mom died. People called me the dark, depressed, emo bitch. I didn't blame them. I never hurt myself, because I felt I had to be with Thomas. I felt I'd see Alex again. 'Ya, look how that turned out.' The voice shouted back. This 'I'm nothing' feeling has been there for five years. But it's never been this bad. I guess I always thought about seeing Alex again. She always made me feel I was somebody in this big, now destroyed, planet. But now I have nothing else, she always kept me going, but now she's been taken out of my life.

* * *

**Alexandria**

I stalked her as she walked through the dead pier. I wish it was night, watching her and staying hidden is much easier with a blanket of darkness. Behind us was nothing, none of the residents seem interested in meeting us. That was a good thing I didn't want Elizabeth to know I'm here just yet. She continued to walk back to the boat, muttering something to herself every once and awhile.

I looked out to the shore I hope the boat would still be there. Luckily Joseph didn't take it. Why wouldn't he, he could've left us stranded here. Did he use the old, rusted boat that was once on the shore? How could he, with a gun wound and the rapid blood loss he wouldn't have gotten very far. Sadly I didn't have the answer.

Elizabeth was still pretty far from the boat, right now was the best time to go see if Tobar knows anything. I jumped off the roof and painfully jogged toward Tobar.

"Tobar, have you seen a man with a gunshot wound?"

"No ma'am." He smiled a toothy grin at me. "Is he your boyfriend?"

"Far from it."

"So you're single?"

"Yes, but no to you."

His grin turned to a frown. Elizabeth turned around the corner, she was looking down at her Pip-boy so she had no idea I was here. I jumped on top of the boat's railing and pulled myself up onto the next level, then finally the roof. This was going to be a long, sicking ride.

* * *

**Elizabeth**

I sat on a wooden bench on the boat. I stared down at the water and didn't look back up. I continued to think about my father, Thomas, and Alex. The water washed by the boat as we traveled back to D.C.

* * *

When we got to our destination, I handed Tobar three hundred caps and walked away without saying a word. I started walking in Thomas' direction when a group of three guys walked up to me. I tried to walk past them only to have one of them grab my arm and shove me back.

* * *

**Alexandria**

Once the boat landed at Capital Wasteland Elizabeth imately started to walk towards the mercenary gang. I slipped down off the roof to when Tobar was.

"Thanks for the ride." I handed him my dew three hundred caps.

He looked up at the roof with a surprised look then grabbed the caps from my hand.

I quickly climbed up one of the buildings that had a flat surface I could sniper from it if I had to.

* * *

**Elizabeth**

"Well look at this." One of them smiled devilishly.

I stayed quiet.

"You look a little rough. Where'd you come from, babe?" One of them added. His hand stated trailing down my back. I spun around to get his hand off me. "Oh, are you scared? Worried? Would this be your first time? Oh, such a good girl, listen to daddy a lot? Thats ok babe. You'll enjoy it." His hand gripped my upper arm. The other guys laughed.

"Please let go." I whispered, trying to pull my arm out of his grasp. All they did was laugh. One placed his hand on my thigh.

"Please stop!" I said, louder this time. I pushed the one holding my arm away and tried to run, but one of the other guys gripped both my arms and pulled me back. I kept trying to grab one of my weapons, I didn't care which, I just needed something. But I was just out of reach.

"You're a little bitch." The one I pushed away growled in my face. "That doesn't matter, it'll still be enjoyable for me." He smiled his evil smiled again. His hand stroked my cheek then it started down as he made his own path with his hand.

* * *

**Alexandria**

I watched Elizabeth as she tried to pry their filthy hands off her. I had the perfect shoot ready but I didn't want to, I wanted her to take care of herself. She needs to learn how to live on her own. She tried to pull away, but failed. One of the men started to touch her, I'm not sure if she is a virgin or not but today would not be a good time to change it. Guess now was as good of a time as any. I took the shot, it was a beautiful shot. I hit the guys head, exploding his brains in every direction. Then i moved my rifle of a little then hit the other man in the throat sadly it only ripped through it. Only one was left, I could shoot him but then the boss wouldn't hear about it.

* * *

**Elizabeth**

Suddenly, the guys hand stopped and he fell limply, his brains were splattered on the ground. Then the other one holding my arms was suddenly shot and also fell. The last guy shrieked and ran off. I watched him run away cowardly then looked to see where the shots came from. I frantically looked, but no one was in my range of sight. I looked back to one of the guys laying dead. He had a blank look on his face and his eyes stared off at nothingness. I walked past their corpses. I had no reason to be here.

* * *

I continued walking, silently around the D.C area. I still felt someone was watching over me, but I felt to be in no danger. I was almost back at the Galaxy News Radio Station. I had been walking for a little while, but it seemed shorter than my first visit. I guess it was either because I didn't care or if it was because I'd been here before.

I kept myself out of sight so I wouldn't be caught by any Super Mutants. I went the same route Alex took Thomas and I. It seemed to work because the mutants were clueless. I was almost to the building when I spotted a couple Brotherhood of Steel fighters. They looked at me, but none attacked. Thanks to Alex, they knew who I was.

Before walking inside, Thomas was standing outside the building taking to some guy. The man was about my height. He looked like he had a pretty muscular build.

"Thomas?" I asked as if I thought it was all an illusion and that Thomas wasn't actually standing there. He glanced around confused after hearing his name. He then turned around to see me. His face suddenly lighted up in excitement. "Thomas!" I yelled and ran over to him. I quickly brought him up into a hug when he was in reaching distance.

"What? Were you worried?" Thomas asked when we separated. He had a cocky grin on his face. I just smiled in response and stared down at him. "Oh, hey. Meet James." He said and pulled me over to the guy.

"Hi." James greeted. I just stared at him.

"This is my older sister, Liz." Thomas said for me.

"Well, my names Elizabeth but everyone calls me Liz for short." I said nervously. "Thomas we should probably go. I'm pretty sure James is pretty busy…"

"No he's not, I wanted him to come with us." Thomas smiled.

'What is he doing?!' My mind screamed. 'Bringing some stranger along. I don't know who he is or what kind of person he is. Was Thomas trying to hook me up with someone? I had no chance with this guy. Not only do I not know who he is but I'm definitely not in his league.' My self consciousness side kicked in. "Thomas I-"

He interrupted me before I could go on. "Hey wait, I need to go get something. You guys get to know each other." Thomas said before running off.

"Brothers…"I sighed.

"What's wrong with brothers?" James asked. I nervously looked up at him. I brought my hand up to mess with my long brown hair self consciously.

"Nothing, I love my brother. He just...nevermind." I stopped myself. "What do you do here in the Wastes, James?"

"You can call me Planters." He smiled "And I'm just a traveler. Like you?"

"Well yes, we just roam around...I guess."

"Her favorite color's blue." Thomas suddenly spoke behind me, making me jump.

"Green." Planters spoke.

"Same here!" Thomas said smiling.

"Umm, excuse me. I need to talk to Three dog." I said and backed up.

"Well hello Liz!" Three dog greeted.

"Hey. Thanks for watching Thomas. I can't thank you enough but I brought you three hundred bottlecaps. Please accept them." I said holding my hands out with the bottlecaps.

"Well thanks Liz." Three dog smiled and took the caps.

I was about to walk away but quickly spun around. "Three dog!"

"Yes?"

"If you see Alex...tell her...tell her thanks. For everything. And tell her...I'd...I'd really like to see her again." I stammered and looked down at my feet. I then walked back outside to Thomas and James.

"Hey, what's that?" Thomas asked as I walked over to them. He ran over to something laying on the ground.

"He really likes to explore." James said.

"Ya, he does." I looked back to James. "He didn't get to do it much for the first fourteen years of his life."

"Why?"

"Vault dwellers…" I sighed. "You probably hate us now."

"I was once in a Vault."

"Yes, but you weren't in Vault 100." I laughed slightly. I heard someone shriek in pain. 'That sounded like-' "Thomas!" I screamed before the voice in my head could finish. A Super Mutant stood over him. I tried to run over to him and pulled out my rifle but another Super Mutant came out next to me and smashed into me. I went flying the other direction and landed on the rock hard ground. I tried to ignore the one attacking me so I could get to Thomas. But It continued to swing its nailed bat at me. It was getting harder and harder to dodge its attacks. I finally pulled out rifle the rest of the way and continued to shoot it in the head. The monster had about four shots in the head before it finally fell limply to the ground.

I was about to run over to Thomas when I saw James beating the other mutant with a bat. I finally finished watching in awe and painfully ran over to Thomas' still body. James had killed the other mutant and looked back at Thomas and I. I had Thomas' head cradled on my lap and I started stroking his hair. "Thomas?" I whispered softly. I opened the black backpack and searched for something that could help him. 'Please Alex.' I thought as I hoped she put something in the bag. I shuffled around before pulling out a stimpack. Thomas suddenly shook violently. 'He's having a seizure!' The voice yelled inside my head. I stuck the shot in Thomas. I continued to try to comfort him and his shaking finally subsided.

I sat there for about five minutes with James looking down worried. Thomas' eyes fluttered open as he looked up at us. My sorrow filled face changed to excitement. "Thomas!" I smiled. I helped him slowly get to his knees. "Are you ok?" I asked. He only nodded. I got up and put my hand out to help Thomas up. He grabbed my hand and shakily stood up. His knees almost gave out but James quickly grabbed him. James picked him up and looked at me.

"Lets find him a place to rest…" I said sadly. My brother was going through all this because I took him with me… Why did I take him with me again? Alex was right. That Vault was safer for him…

James held Thomas' sleeping form as him and I walked back to the Radio Station. Three dog saw us and ran over.

"What happened?" He asked.

"Super Mutants." I answered

"Are they gone?"

"Yes. Could we find a place for Thomas to rest?"

"Ya, follow me." Three dog gestured for us to follow. We walked behind him as we got to his room. He pointed to the bed. James walked over and place Thomas onto the mattress.

"Thanks Three Dog, again." I said as all three of us walked out of the room.

"No problem. I'm always here to help." He smiled

I walked outside to sit on the steps. I looked over to both of the dead Mutants. I rested my chin on my knees as I looked around the ruins. 'What have I done...' I asked myself. 'Thomas is injured because of _me_. Alex probably hates me because of _my_ actions. What am I doing?'

* * *

**Alexandria**

I watched everything happen, a young man with gorgeous green eyes protect Thomas, Thomas have a seizure, Elizabeth sit on the stairs hating herself. She seemed like she couldn't take it anymore, like she just wanted to give up on it all, until the man came out and talked to her. At first he just talked to her, maybe I couldn't hear the words but I could read their expressions, she didn't seem too interested. But as things continued on I felt like she might have someone new to protect her.

* * *

**Elizabeth**

James had came out to talk to me a little earlier. At first I just sat there, not caring what he said. Then I found myself answering him.

"So why are you and Thomas out here alone?"

"We aren't exactly 'alone' per say." I sighed. "We have someone...kind of… But if you're asking about our parents then...well...long story."

"I have time. Unless you don't want to talk about it…"

I looked at him for a couple seconds. "Well, I felt like my life was perfect. I had my beautiful, caring mother. I had my funny but at times obnoxious brother. Then I had my father, I didn't see him much but I loved him. Then I found out he was a murder...He killed my mom when I was fourteen, right in front of me. Then he beat Thomas. But I'm the one who has what he needs. And I'm giving you a lot of information…" I sighed.

"Well, from what I heard… your dad seems like a dick." He smiled a cute smile.

"Ya, he is. Can I ask why you're alone?"

"My family was killed by those beasts." He pointed to the dead Super Mutants.

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"Why are you sorry?"

I just shrugged.

"Thomas really looks up to you."

"I guess." I shrugged. 'Why would anyone look up to me?' I asked myself.

"I had a brother. Thomas reminds me a lot about him."

I looked over to him. He looked like he was about to burst into tears. "Hey, why don't you come with us? I know Thomas wants you to."

"Really?"

"Ya. Why not?"

He smiled. "Thanks."

I slightly smiled. But the thought of Alex came back in my head. "I...I need to take a walk…" I said and quickly stood up and walked away. I felt bad for just leaving him without saying anymore. But...Alex. 'She has her own life!' The voice argued. I walked onto a rock that had broken off of a ruined building.

"Please Alex…" I sighed as if she could hear me. "I'm sorry and I...What am I thinking? You do have a life to live, don't you? And I'm just standing here like an idiot talking to myself...Great…" I crouched down. I hid my eyes into the sleeve of my armor. "Please be alive, Alex." I whispered.

* * *

**Alexandria**

She lowered herself to the ground and pleaded for me to be alive. I soundlessly jumped off the roof I was on to the ground behind her. "I am." I whispered, before she could turn around I jumped into one of the windows and back into the shadows.

* * *

**Yay! We got chapter seven up! Hope you guys are enjoying the story so far! Please comment, or PM one or both of us if you have comments, suggestions, or concerns! We love to see what you guys have to say! Thanks for reading!**

**Megan: Ello govna. I was extremely lazy during this chapter so I only wrote the minimum I had to so I apologize, I'll try to be less lazy. But the story is now more centered around Elizabeth so you'll more likely hear about her more. Thanks for reading, and please comment.**

**Melissa: Hey guys! I bet you noticed a new character! Well James is a character that Jimbo74 made. We have a HUGE thanks to you, Jimbo74! We love all your support! Also, please check out Megan's profile! I love her stories, they're great! So please comment, or PM us if you have any suggestions. That means if you want us to write you a story about your favorite game/ movie/ book/ ext. please tell us! Thanks so much for reading! **


	8. Chapter 8

_I don't own anything, just my own characters. All Fallout copyright goes to Bethesda._

* * *

**Elizabeth**

I walked back to the radio station. James was still sitting there but a dog was sitting next to him. The dog wagged its tail happily as James patted its head. I walked over to the panting dog and James.

"Cute dog." I smiled

"Oh thanks, his name is Jack." James answered, still petting the dog.

"I didn't know you had a dog." I kneeled down and patted Jack's head.

"You like dogs?"

"Ya, I had one named Buddy when I was younger. We weren't suppose to have pets in the vault but my mom hid him pretty well for six years."

"Oh, what happened?"

"Overseer…" I sighed.

"I'm really sorry."

I smiled up at him. "Why are you sorry?" I repeated what he had said earlier. It was quiet for a moment. "Overseers are like mutants in human bodies." I stated.

"Ya, they are."

"That's why I brought Thomas with me. I couldn't stand the thought of leaving him and the Overseer beating him…"

"Ya…" I could hear the sorrow growing back into his voice.

"I'm going to go check on Thomas." I said before walking inside. I walked up a couple staircases then made it to Three Dog's room where Thomas was resting. I slightly opened the door. When I saw him still laying on the bed, I slid the door open all the way. I didn't notice he was awake 'till his head turned to look at me.

"Liz?" He asked in a groggy voice.

"Hey Thomas. How does your head feel?"

"It feels ok. It's kinda sore though." He said rubbing his head. He broke the silence. "Liz? Where did you and Alex actually go?"

"I knew I couldn't keep it from you." I sighed with a little chuckle. "Well, we went to go find someone. You know this person. And this person would be our father."

"What?" He asked in a confused tone.

"Ya, I know. But dad's still out here. We went to kill him. But he got away."

"Well where's Alex?"

"I don't know."

"You guys separated?"

"You could say that."

"Oh...Is dad still...you know?"

"Yes...but Thomas I promise to keep you safe, no matter what. I promised you that after mom died and I will always keep that promise."

"I know." He said and carefully stood from the bed. He walked over and hugged me. "Where are we going next?" He asked and pulled away.

"I don't know. I still wanted to find dad. I guess we can ask James what he wants to do."

"He's coming with us?" Thomas asked excitedly.

I giggled. "Yes, he is."

"Awesome! Ow…" He said after jumping.

I continued to smile at him. I was happy to see Thomas smile again. I felt I achieved something in life. But the word 'nothing' still rang in my ears. So here we were, about to start another journey. I hopped to see Alex while we ventured. And I also hoped to see dad. He needed to see what was coming.

* * *

**Alexandria**

The cartel set off toward the treacherous wastes; even with me here to protect and the new blonde man they may not even get to her father before they end up dead. They headed back into the metro station, while I crawled along the building hoping none of them would collapse under my weight. Normally while hunting I wouldn't see someone for a few hours but I'd return to the camp and see Crow's and Shay's familiar faces but it was weird being alone this long. I could see them but I couldn't just go over there and strike up a conversation. After a few minutes they popped out of the Metro unscaved. They continued to walk past the Super Duper Mart and toward the metal town with an atomic bomb for a centerpiece. Luckily the man with the dog seemed to know his way around the wastes.

* * *

**Elizabeth**

We reached the metal Megaton walls. I entered the town with Thomas, James, and his dog Jack.

"Hey, are you guys hungry?" I asked them.

"Ya." Thomas nodded sleepily.

"Ok come on. Lets get something to eat." I motioned towards the booth outside the Brass Lantern. We each walked over to the vendor woman.

"What can I do for ya?" She greeted.

"Noodles for me please." I said.

"I want noodles too." Thomas requested before yawning.

"Why not? I'll have noodles too." James smiled.

I was about to put caps down to pay for all three of us when James stopped me. "I'll pay."

"You don't have to…"

"I want to." He smiled again. I smiled back and placed the bottle caps back.

We all enjoyed the noodles. I could tell we were all pretty starving because we finished the food within five minutes. Thomas spilled some on himself from being so drowsy. When we finished, I helped Thomas walk up to Moriarty's Saloon. I paid from one room that Thomas and I could share. James paid for his own room. We walked to the separate rooms and quickly fell into a deep sleep.

* * *

**Alexandria **

As they slept I went into the town, there wasn't much to do. I decided to just sleep on top of the roofs, before I drifted off to sleep I went to talk to someone. I mutely broken into the dead saloon and walked to where the bedrooms were. I peeked into the doors until I found what I was looking for. A man softly snoring as he slept. I slipped onto the bed and covered his mouth.

"Shh. Be still." I whispered into his ear trying to calm him. "I'm not going to hurt you, I need you to deliver a message. Now if you will be quiet I will release you mouth." I removed my hand from his mouth.

"Who are you…what do you want?" The man asked confused.

"A friend of the girl you are traveling with. Now be silent and I will explain." I repositioned myself so now I was at the bottom of the bed facing his shadowed face. "I need you to deliver this to her." From my hand fell a bracelet I made her the day before I left the vault. "Give her this as well." I handed him the note her father had left behind. "I put the coordinates on the back so she can find the location."

He stared at me for a moment before inspecting the bracelet and note. "Wait...Alex?" He whispered. "She's always talking about you. What happened? Why aren't-" He stopped himself. "Never mind."

"My place is to be her guardian angel and it is now your place to be by her side. Tell her I am sorry." I looked down to my lap wishing I could just go in the other room and hug her. "Goodbye." Before the green-eyed man could say anything more I slipped out of the room, out of the saloon and back onto the tops of the buildings. My body screamed out in pain, every muscle, every cut hurt. I'm not going to leave her just because a few cuts.I rested my head on my arm and slipped into a peaceful rest.

* * *

**Elizabeth**

_My shaking hand held the gun. My gaze was strong and sure. Alex and Thomas both stood shaking in front of me. _

"_Liz, what are you doing?" Alex asked._

_I said nothing._

"_Liz...It's us." Thomas said in a shaky voice. _

_My father came up to my side. His cold hand placed itself on my shoulder. I did nothing but stand and hold the gun towards Thomas and Alex. "Good girl." He said in a dark voice._

"_You're in the way. Time to move you." My voice finally spoke. _

_The gun barked. The bullet cut through the air. The cool metal smashed into one of their shaking bodies. _

* * *

I suddenly jumped up. My eyes were wide with horror. I looked to my side to see Thomas still sleeping soundly. I sighed in relief. Thomas didn't even move, he continued to dream in his own 'dream world.'

I silently got up, knowing I couldn't go back to sleep with a nightmare like that one. I quietly walked out the room and exited the saloon. The cold air fanned my face. I walked over to the railing and leaned my elbows on the rusty bars. I watched as the bright sun started to rise. I've never really seen a sunrise, I always had to imagine what it would look like. But I've never seen one like this one. I actually enjoyed it, and watched every detail. It was kind of like learning to walk again, it was an adventure. I just wished I wasn't the only one enjoying. I wished Alex stood next to me. I imagined a picture of her and I both holding some kind of drink. She'd probably have vodka and I'd probably have whiskey. I saw us standing together and laughing about some old memory. Will we ever be like that again? Or is that just the type of past the ventures into a dark hole and never returned?

* * *

**Alexandria**

I awoke to the saloon's door creaking open. Who would be leave this early in the morning? I crawled closer to the edge of the roof to see Elizabeth leaning on the railing watching a beautiful sunrise. I've seen a few sunrises in my day but this one was by far the most beautiful; there was the orange center with reds, yellows, and pink all splashed behind the orange ball. She seemed dazed almost as if she was drunk but I'm pretty sure she isn't, she was more likely in deep thought. Next to me laid a small stone.

"That's not nice." I picked up the rock as I toyed with the idea to throw it at her. "If fate put the rock here I might as well throw it." I gently tossed it at her, it hit the back of her neck with a light thud. I inched back from the edge just far enough for her not to see me. Once she turned back around I found another stone. "You're a bitch. You know that Alex, right?" I asked myself then decided I didn't care and tossed another stone at her.

* * *

**Elizabeth**

Suddenly, I was hit in the back with something. I turned around to see a rock on the metal ground. I picked it up and inspected it for a moment. Again, another stone was thrown at me. I looked up at the saloon roof. I didn't see anything, but stones couldn't fall that far. I juggled one of the stones from one hand to the other. Then I carefully threw it back up. I heard a slight thud and almost burst out laughing at the thought of what it might have hit. This should be fun, I wonder what kind of 'rock throwing war' I was getting into.

* * *

**Alexandria**

I slid backward on the roof just to get hit with a stone. Oh hell no, she can't throw stones back at me. This means WAR! I picked up the stone once again and tossed it a little harder this time.

"Oww." A man's voice interrupted our war before it even started.

* * *

**Elizabeth**

James walked outside the saloon and smiled at me. "Oww." he suddenly said and rubbed the back of his head. This time I couldn't hold in the laugh. I burst into a laughing fit. I felt like I was ten again, laughing like a child. "What was that?" He asked, but he didn't seem mad cause he looked like he was about to laugh too.

I just shrugged when my laughter finally stopped. "I don't know. SOMEONE wanted to have a rock war." I joked.

* * *

**Alexandria**

Even though her team had a causality she didn't want to surrender, this war wasn't over yet. I lobbed a stone over the roof hoping to hit anyone. I didn't hear a _tinking_ noise so I must've hit someone.

"I need to tell you something important. We can go inside if you want." The man's voice prodded.

* * *

**Elizabeth**

"Go inside? From this fun?" I smiled and threw another rock up. "Hold on." I walked closest to the roof. "This war isn't over. I'm coming back for you." I laughed a little then opened the door to the saloon and James followed me inside. "What is it?"

"I had a visit from someone last night…"

"Do I really want to know about this?" For some reason, i felt really energetic.

He paused to laugh for a second then continued. "Your friend, Alex. She came by. She wanted to give this to you." He handed me a bracelet and a note. The bracelet was the one Alex made me when we were in the Vault. And the note was the one my dad had left at the motel. "She wanted me to tell you she's sorry-"

I put my hand up to stop him. "She shouldn't be sorry. She has no right to say sorry...because she didn't do anything wrong."

He was silent.

"Why should she be sorry for protecting me? Saving me? Helping Thomas? Being my friend? Should anyone be sorry for that?"

He still didn't say anything.

"Sorry, excuse me." I said and walked back outside, but instead of throwing a rock I quickly turned around. "Want to tell me something?" I asked hoping someone was still there.

* * *

**Alexandria**

Elizabeth's voice questioned me out of the silence, what should I do? Hell with it! "I am just a raven, _kaw, kaw_." I tried to bring forth my best impression of a raven. "That likes throwing rocks. _Kaw_."

"Ya sure." I could hear she was about to burst out laughing at my fail to sound like a bird.

"No really, I am. _Kaw_."

"You seem to be able to pick up heavy rocks too. And you must be pretty smart to be talking in English." She paused for a moment. "You could at least come down here."

"No. I like roofs. If you want to talk you have to come up here."

"Umm...sure, right." She sounded quite unsure. "We'll see about that."

* * *

**Elizabeth**

I started walking to the left. I had to find the easy way to get onto the roof. The dirty ground started rising up to almost level with the roof. I stepped over the railing and climbed my way up the hill. My feet kept slipping a little but I was finally able to grab the metal ceiling. I pulled myself up and carefully got to my knees. I looked over to the figure sitting on the edge of the roof. I had to keep myself from running over to hug her and risk breaking the roof. But I just tiptoed my way over. I wasn't trying to be quiet, I just didn't want to think the roof would fall out from under me. I got to where Alex was sitting her legs hung over the roof's edge and I sat down next to her.

"The roof won't break, it held my weight." She looked over at me.

"You never know, remember when I sat in the chair and it collapsed but when you sat in it before me it didn't even stress under the weight." I started to remember some of the past.

"True." She returned her gaze back to the dusty distance.

"Hey thanks." I paused and looked down at the bracelet she gave James to give to me. "I'm sorry, for everything I did within the time we knew each other. That's including all the mistakes I made in the Vault too."

"You don't need to apologize because then I'd have to apologize for a lot over the years." She had never been the type to say she's sorry; she'd own up to her wrong but never atone for her sin.

I remembered all our years in the Vault together. We were always the kids who'd prank others, and we seemed like twin sisters. But we still made mistakes, we still got into fights. But we'd always figure it out...together. "You were with me the whole time right? I have to say thanks, for a lot of things but especially for saving me from those guys…"

"No problem, that's what friends are for."

"Alex...come with us. I mean, I know you were with us this whole trip but really, come with us."

"Why? My skills are better used from a distance, I'm an excellent tracker and sniper." Her tone seemed flat.

"But you're a better friend. Earlier, I felt like you were hiding. You don't have to hide. You can still be a sniper, you'd have to get a little further, but you can still do it."

"I wasn't hiding from you, I was hiding from my mistakes."

"But you don't have to."

"Maybe I have to, maybe I can't deal with the fact that I'm flawed. I sent my friends to death trap for god sake."

"But Alex, everyone is flawed, everyone makes mistakes. You can't run or hide from the fact no one can do anything right."

"But my mistake always end in someone's death."

"Do you think I care. If I died for something I hope it's you. I hope I die for and because of you."

"Well atleast someone feels that way. I'm done with this whole mushy, talking about my feelings thing."

"Ok...but please."

"I will if you really want me to."

"I really want you to...but only if you want to…" I smiled as I remember how much she hated it when I said I wanted to only if she did.

"Ugh, why? Why can't you just give me a straight answer?"

"Because." I smiled again. "Do you want to come with us?"

"Well I've got nothing better to do. I mean I was going to come along anyways."

I almost hugged her but stopped myself. "Umm, awesome." I smiled and stood up awkwardly. As I shakily walked to where I got on Alex just jumped off the roof slightly landing in front of the door. "Show off." I rolled my eyes.

"Maybe if you spent more time jumping off roofs you could straighten your ankles."

"Ya, or break 'em." I joked.

"The first time I broke my right ankle, you just have to do it a few times to build up the muscle. Or if you have weak ankles they'll just break every time."

"Sure, then you can carry me around everywhere."

"No, I'll have your new boyfriend do it. Did you ever date one of the Vault dwellers?"

"Yes, I had one boyfriend." I paused to hit her. "And shut up...he's not my boyfriend." I blushed.

"Whatever you say. Wait who'd you date?"

I remember my first boyfriend from the Vault. I debated whether I should say or not. "Chad…" I said quietly.

"That's sad. At least you didn't take my leftovers, there are a lot of leftovers in the Vault."

I laughed. "All those guys are frightened of the girls, thanks to you."

"I didn't want any of them to grow up and have mindless babies." Alex smiled at me.

"Great excuse." I smiled back.

"Hey _all _of them were in great moods after I was done, they knew the stakes."

"I bet they all have nightmares. But hey, why should I care about those dicks?"

"I hope you don't. So do I get to meet Boy Wonder now?"

I smiled as she said Boy Wonder. "Why not?" I said and motioned to the saloon door.

* * *

**Here's chapter 8 for you guys! Hoped you all loved it! (Except Falloutgurl, we all know what you are…) anyway! Please comment and PM us for suggestions and stuff...thanks!**

**Melissa: Hey guys. I hope you liked the chapter. I'm sorry if we don't post a new chapter every day...we are in high school and life does get a little stressful and busy but we are trying. So, like always, please comment and/or PM one or both of us if you have suggestions about this story or a new one. We love to see what you guys have to say. Please please **_**please**_ **check out Megan's profile. So, stay tuned for chapter 9. Thanks for the support. **

**Megan: Hey all! So chapter 8 huh? Yep that's a good number. Check out Melissa's other pieces. PM us if you have any question, comments, concerns or suggestions Thanks for reading and if you'd like comment. **


	9. Chapter 9

_I don't own anything, just my own characters. All Fallout copyright goes to Bethesda._

* * *

**Elizabeth **

It didn't take long before the whole town woke up. After I introduced Alex and James, Thomas continued to non stop talk with James. Thomas really like James, he looked up to him. Jame was definitely a lot better of a role model then our father. Dad. A mad man who's still out there, do I go after him? Do i find Thomas another place to stay? Do I tell James about my father? Do I asked Alex to come with me or leave without telling her anything?

"Where do we plan to go next?" I asked Alex as her and I sat next to each other. I was drinking Whiskey and she drank Vodka, like normal. James was drinking a Nuka Cola and talked with Thomas.

"Rockopolis, unless you'd like me to show you around first. Maybe we could save Bree's and Crow's asses."

"We could use all the help we can get, I guess. Rockopolis is where my dad is...isn't it?"

"It should be if he's headed here," She pointed to the sheet of paper in my hand. "Then yes he's going to Rockopolis."

"Ok, should I bring James and Thomas?" I looked back at my little brother with sorrow filled eyes.

"If you leave Tom then leave James with him but as you said the more help we get the better. If you want some mercians help I could get some of them."

"Ya, that would probably be best." I paused for a moment to think. "Having James would also help, I've seen him fight. Tom isn't completely helpless...Hopefully I can trust James enough to protect him. I guess I've decided to take them both with us."

"Our trip will be a little longer than expected then, Shay and Crow are at Paradise Falls which is here." Alex scrolled up and to the left on my pip-boy map. "Some of my friends are hiding out over here." She moved the map the the top. "Their camping somewhere near Oasis. Before we head out to get them, do you think your father will still be working on his project when we get there?"

"Probably, I know what poison he is using. It takes about a week to actually make. And he's probably expecting us...Do you know if he had any 'friends' out here in the wastes? Like, partners."

"When I was following him I didn't see anyone that could be classified as his accomplice but that doesn't mean he didn't make any friends in Point Lookout."

"Agreed. We might be walking into a war zone, but with your help, I hope we'll be ok."

"Well we have a vault dweller, a fourteen year old boy, a dog, and the boy's guardian angel, so I think we'll be okay." She smiled at me.

I smiled back. "Correction, two vault dwellers."

"Me or James?"

"You." I playfully punched her arm.

"Okay, just checking."

"Sure you were." I paused. "So, want to go get your friends to help?"

"Why not?"

* * *

**Alexandria**

"Hey James, Thomas let's head down to the food booth." I stood up from the chair I was in motioned for Liz to follow. We walked out of the bar and down to the booth.

"What can I get you all?" Jenny asked us.

"I'll have an apple ." Liz answered.

"Pear." James said.

"Same, pear please." Thomas agreed.

"Nothing, I'm good."

"Okay." Jenny turned around, opened the refrigerator, and pulled out two pears and an apple.

"Thank you." I handed her the caps then sat down at one of the stools.

"Thanks Alex." Liz smiled at me.

"No problem, I have plenty of caps."

"Hey, did Elizabeth ever tell you about her...incident." Thomas asked and burst out laughing.

"Thomas!" Liz yelled back.

"No, but I'd like to hear about it." I sweetly smiled at Thomas.

Thomas smiled devilishly back at me. "Oh well, you know. She was walking around the halls normally when a radroach decided to walk into the vault. Has she ever told you she wasn't scared of those? Well, she's walking and it walks up to her. And all I heard was the loudest, high pitched, girly scream ever. Everyone literally ran over to see what was wrong only to see her cowering from a little bug." Thomas was now non stop laughing.

"Did I ever tell you that she thought a mole rat was some sort of evil, deadly creature. Best described as a walrus." I started to laugh.

Liz glared at me and tried to hide a smile. "Did I ever tell anyone about what Alex did?" She asked evilly. "We were walking on a road, quietly and minding our own business. I was walking sort of behind her and saw a shopping cart? Ya, shopping cart on the ground, I kicked it and I think she had a heart attack. It honestly was loud, but you should have saw her face. Big tough Alex scared of a shopping cart."

"Fuck you. The shopping cart was incredibly loud, you can't blame me for being jumpy out here." I smiled a Elizabeth. "So James now that we've all shared out embarrassing experience it's your turn."

He seemed quite nervous before finally giving in and telling us the story. "When I was younger, and my family was alive, my dad, brother, and I were hanging out. My brother said something that kinda got me mad, so him and I got into a little fight. Right when I went to kick my brother...I kicked my dad. It's not all that embarrassing, but it's all I got." James said quietly. Thomas burst out laughing and almost choked on his own food.

"Okay now that we've all shared something hurry up so we can get going."

* * *

**Elizabeth**

We all walked on a ruined road together. Alex lead the way with me right next to her. Thomas, James, and Jack behind us. It felt good to have Alex with us again. This definitely made me think about what mom always said, "You never know how much you love someone or something till they are gone." I still felt like nothing. Was I missing something? Alex is with me, shouldn't I feel better know. But for some reason I kept wearing a fake smile. She was right, the Wastelands change you. Atleast Thomas was enjoying himself. He really liked James, I'm happy. Tom had never really been this happy after mom passed. And I could never make him laugh or even smile. I'd always thought about his life, and mine. I was way different after mom died and it only got worse when Alex left. I went into a depression, I guess you could say I still am. I looked over at Alex, she had a determined look on her face. I looked back ahead of us. Here we were, going after my father, again.

* * *

**Alexandria**

Once we arrived at Paradise Falls we were all pretty worn out and hungry. "James stay with Thomas and eat these." I threw James two energy bars. "Liz do you want to come with?"

"Sure." She answered.

"Okay, just keep quiet and follow closely." Liz and I walked up to the front gates when a man was standing.

"What can I do for you ladies?" The man asked us.

"We need to get inside." I said flatly.

"Sorry, can't do that."

I walked up to the man and touched his face. "Really you can't?" I pouted my lip a little.

Liz quickly pulled out a gun and pointed it straight at the man. "I think you should let us in, fucker."

"Goddamn it, put your gun away." I scolded. Then removed my knife and cut open his jugular.

"I learned from the best." Liz smiled and put the gun back.

"We aren't trying to start a war, we are trying to do this quietly. Now keep your gun in your holster and don't do _anything_." I gave her an angry look.

"Oh really. We aren't?" She asked sarcastically.

I glared at her one more time and walked into the slaver's compound. For some slavers they had a pretty nice place here, I mean if you like a bunch of slaves and past slaver's body parts. We continued to the back where the adult slaves where help, of course both Crow and

Shay were held captive. "Go make conversation with the guard, distract him." I told Elizabeth.

She nodded and walked over to the guard and smiled a cute smile.

I walked casually over to the slave pen and unlocked the gate. "Great job guys."

Crow looked up at me. "You bitch, you set us up."

"I did no such thing, sure I sent you here knowing you'd find nothing, but I didn't know you guys were so bad you'd get capture by them. Now let's stop arguing and get the hell out of here."

"I'd like that." Both Shay and Crow stood up.

"Now just run for it, to the west we're set up. Find a boy and a man stay with them and hide we'll catch up to you guys." I moved away from the gate to where Elizabeth and the guard were standing. Once I got there the guard noticed the escaping slaves and started an alarm. "Let's get out of here." I grabbed Liz's arm and pulled her out the door nonchalantly as I could do.

"Wasn't that fun." She said sarcastically. "Did they get out ok?"

"To my knowledge. Come on let's try and get back to camp."

* * *

**Elizabeth**

Alex and I reached camp where Shay, Crow, James, Jack, and Thomas waited. Shay and Crow looked a little rough and tired. I didn't know what to say to them, so I just walked over to James and Thomas and talked with them. Once I sat down I heard some fight between the three mercenaries, this is what I hear from the conversation:

"You're a cold hearted bitch!" Crow yelled at Alex.

"I hate to tell you but you're not the highest priority on my list right now. I can't always babysit you." Alex calmly said back to him.

"We don't need babysitting but we don't want to be lied to."

"I don't give a shit about your feelings. Quit bitching about everything." She responded, her words filled with deadly venom.

"You know what, I don't give a shit about you! I hope a Deathclaw kills you then eats you cold as stone heart."

I looked up at the three desperately. I hated arguments, I almost wanted to cover my ears but I couldn't think about the two ganging up on Alex. "Guys…" I said in a shy, quiet voice.

"Fuck you! Fuck your emotions! Get the fuck out of my sight! I never want to see you again!" Alex stood up and pushed Crow backwards.

"Guys…" I repeated no louder.

Crow stood up straighter, probably standing six and a half feet tall. He drew back his fist and punched Alex in the face. "Let's go Shay." Shay stood up with Crow and walked off into the darkness.

I ran over to Alex and helped her up. 'Are you ok…?"

"I'm fine." She spit out a little blood.

"I'm sorry." I sighed.

"It's okay. It's my fault, they're right I shouldn't have lied to them."

I didn't say anything, just stared up at her grey eyes. "I guess it's just us. Unless you have more friends." I said after a long moment.

"I have a few up my Osias, my past boyfriend and his group."

"Ok, we will follow you." I slightly smiled.

"Not tonight, it's too dark." Alex said without any emotion.

* * *

**Hey guys! Please enjoy chapter nine! We are working hard and are about to start another story together! Yay! So, like always, please comment or PM us if you have any questions, concerns, suggestions, or just want to say something. Thanks! **

**Melissa: She keeps putting me on top...Oh well. She's a nice person. Speaking of Megan Hahn, please go check out her profile and read all her great stories and poems! She's an awesome writer! Her and I have started playing Army of Two together, it's fun. (I fucking love that game.) So anyway, we are working on a Fallout New Vegas story and we will get that to you soon. So, please comment or Pm one/both of us. We'd like to hear what you have to say, if you have questions about the story or if you have a suggestion for a new story you want to see us write. Thanks so much for the support, especially the people who comment every chapter and actually read every chapter! (Only Jimbo74 does that…) Just kidding, we love all our readers! So anyway, thanks so much for reading! **

**Megan: I have a new chair, yay! Anyway, sorry this chapter took so long we both have a bunch of homework, we've been planning a new story, I've been busy writing on my own profile, and just in general life in unpredictable. PM me/us if you need anything especially suggestions. Please comment and thanks for reading.**


	10. Chapter 10

_I don't own anything, just my own characters. All Fallout copyright goes to Bethesda._

* * *

**Elizabeth**

_A shriek startled me awake. I sat up and glanced around. James and Alex both slept silently, but Thomas wasn't in his spot. I jumped up and ran to where I heard the scream. But when I got to the location, all I saw was a shallow river. Circular ripples floated around. I dared to look in the black irritated water. A figure frantically clawed at the water. It was Thomas. He continuously tried uselessly to swim back up to the top. But he never learned how to swim. I stepped back and took a couple deep breaths. I quickly took a running start and dived into the water. I swam after him the best I could. But the bottom of the river never came and Thomas continued to fall. I could never get any closer but never lost distance. His pleading eyes looked up at me. Bubbles fled from his nose and mouth as pockets of air drifted back to the shore. Suddenly he closed his green away and faded away. I kept trying to get to where he was. I still held my breath even as I felt my face turning blue._

My eyes quickly opened and I sat up giving myself a headache from the whiplash. I looked at all three sleeping forms of my friends. Thomas was thankfully still sleeping in a curled ball. Jack and James slept next to each other. And Alex, who I guessed was awake but faked being asleep like normal, laid in her spot quietly. I decided not to disturb her and laid back down to fall back into the darkness of sleep.

* * *

**Alexandria**

As James' and Thomas' snores started to cut through the silence I stood up to go for a walk. I silently slipped into the darkness trying not to wake anyone. It was cool at night, a relief from the burning heat of the day. After some time in the sun your skin starts to get use to the extreme heat but in your mind you'll always long for the air-conditioning in the vault. I sort of miss the simpler life in the vault, I could do whatever I wanted without the having to have a constant readiness for danger. I stopped at a cliff and sat down, my legs hanging over the edge. I need to learn how to understand others feelings, I should've been more understanding with Crow. He had every right to be pissed off, hell he had every right to punch me; I shouldn't have lied to them, I should've just told them where I was going and told them to stay there for a little while. I should've just stayed in the god damn vault, sucked up to the Overseer, became one of his drones.

A sound came from behind me, the bushes rustled from someone's or something's body brushing against it.

"Who's there?" I said quietly, making sure it wasn't a wandering wastelander.

"Don't shoot." A man's voice insisted for me not to put a bullet in his head.

"What are you doing?" I stood up from the cliff and turn on my pip-boy light, amazed it still worked.

"I'm headed toward Canterbury Commons. I have a shipment of food."

"Do you have a Brahmin?"

"No ma'am." He sounded unsure of his words, and slightly nervous.

"Why would you be delivering the only food you could carry on you and why are you traveling in the dark?" I walked closer to where the man was.

I heard another rustling of leaves. The new dark figure was small. Liz walked over next to us. "Hey Alex I- Who's that?"

"A caravanner without a caravan." I looked over at her.

"Interesting…" She paused. "Sir, where did you get that? The bag you are carrying."

"Umm… I have to go." The man started to walk away.

I grabbed onto his arm and shoved him to the ground. I sat on him and pinned his arm to the ground then grabbed his bag and tossed it to Liz. "Look inside it."

"Hey Alex, that symbol on the bag. I know where it's from." She said and peeked inside the bag. "I knew it. It's from him. The man we are looking for." She stayed away from saying her father.

I pulled the man up from the ground and held him off the cliff only holding him by his frail neck. "Where the hell did you get this?"

"Look, this guy gave it to me; I had to take it." He said weakly.

"Why were you going to Canterbury Commons? Going to poison a town in peril?"

"The man told me that's where I had to take it."

"What did this man look like?" Liz asked.

"Tall, brown hair, and muscular. He had sunglasses on." He was close to tears. "Look, I'm sorry. He made me take it. Or he would have killed me."

"How much better is that from now?" She rolled her eyes.

"Thanks for your help, now have a nice afterlife." I started to loosen my grip.

"Wait, wait!" He screamed as he clutched onto my arm.

"Sir, we really don't need you anymore. Why should we keep you alive?" Liz asked.

"I could tell you everything you want to know!"

"You already did. Thanks." She gave a sarcastic smile.

"But there is more of us!"

"Why should we care?" Liz rolled her eyes again.

"Check the bag, see if there's a schedule or some sort of way to contact the man we are after." I said to Liz.

She nodded and inspected the bag. She continued to look before pulling out a piece of paper. "Here, it's a map of their trail and it has times on it." She showed it to me.

"Perfect." I pulled the man from the cliff and set him on the ground. "This will hurt." I moved his hand onto a rock and pulled out my combat knife. "It will hurt a lot." I cut off his pinky then let go of him.

"Why did you do that?" He questioned me as he clutched his bleeding stub.

"You are going to go back to him and tell him we are coming for him. And if you even think about running off and hiding I promise you, I will find you and remove another finger. Trust me one finger was enough for me." I lifted up my right hand. "Now go."

The man quickly got up and ran off into the darkness. "Good job." Liz smiled. "I think you scared another guy."

"It's a gift." I smiled back at her. "Do you think I could connect his finger with my stub?"

She laughed. "I guess if you really wanted to."

"I'd rather not get any STDs." I tossed his finger off the cliff.

She laughed again. "Good choice."

"Let's get back to camp."

* * *

**Elizabeth**

When Alex and I got back, James and his dog Jack were awake. Jack glanced at us with a funny grin with his tongue sticking out. James looked at us and smiled.

"Hey. Where were you guys? I just woke up and saw you both gone." He asked.

"Well I went to find Alex." I looked over at her. "And we met this guy. A very interesting guy."

"Indeed." Alex nodded.

"He was carrying this. It contains the poison my dad plans to use." I showed him the bag. "It also held a note that shows their route and their times of 'shipping'."

"Well, sounds like fun." James said.

"We'll head out once Tom is ready. I'll wake him up in a couple minutes."

"That'd be good, it's always good to get a head start. The guys will probably still be sleeping when we get there though."

"Agreed." I nodded.

A little while later, I walked over to Thomas' sleeping form. I gently shook him awake. "Hey Tom, time to get up."

"Seriously? It's still dark…" He protested.

"Come on. We need to go." I helped him stand up. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. He blinked a couple times and looked around his surroundings.

"Where are we going?"

"We found a note that shows where dad will be…" I hesitated for a second. "Thomas, do you want to go with us?"

"Yes! Please let me go! I want to help!" He almost screamed.

"Ok, Ok. I was just making sure you wanted to go." I reassured him. "Now come one. Lets eat then start heading." I pulled an apple out of my backpack for him to eat which he gladly took.

**Alexandria**

Once the happy family was fed, we headed off. It wasn't too long of a walk but apparently yesterday's walk had tired out Liz and Thomas. James and I joked around about how they hadn't got use to long walk in the wasteland, he had finally gotten over the part where I snuck into his room and sat on his bed.

Liz seemed really distant, she never made eye contact with anyone in the group nor did she laugh at any jokes, or even give the slightest fake smile. She didn't seem responsive to the world around her. Thomas was the opposite, he laughed at everything James and I said and never stopped smiling.

* * *

**Elizabeth**

I continually looked at the barren wastelands. I could barely hear the three laugh at something I didn't listen to. I started to walk slower, not from being tired but from the want to be in the back of the group. I held my backpack and also had the bag we had gotten from the guy. Sometimes I'd glance down at it to see if there was anything else we might have missed. I remembered the symbol my dad had on everything special he owned. I heard Thomas laugh loudly and glanced at the back of his head since I was now completely behind them. I was happy to see them all having a great time. I just felt I shouldn't join them. Like I didn't have the 'right' to have fun, or something. I just felt better watching them as they laughed. I guess I'd always been that way. Once mom died, I loved to watch the rare moments Thomas smiled.

"Liz, why can't you stop caring about others and care about yourself?" I remember my mom asked. It was the total opposite of what other moms told their kids. They'd say "Why can't you stop thinking about yourself and think about others for once?"

'Sorry mom, that's just me.' I thought in my head.

* * *

**Alexandria**

The sun was just rising once we got the camp. I motioned for the group the stay behind. "Just give me a second to wake them up." I walked to where Kellin, my ex, slept.

I positioned my body next to him, making sure not to touch him. Then took his gun him his hand and moved to his back. "GET UP, IT'S AN ATTACK!" I yelled at the top of my lungs.

Kellin stood up and searched for his gun, then looked to his friends with wide eyes.

"Hey babe." I smiled at him.

He turned around to see me standing there holding his gun. "Alex!" He smiled at me. "Now give me back my gun." He stood up from his sleeping bag.

"Take it from me." I smiled at him mischievously.

He tried to grab onto me, but was too slow. "You want to play this game, ehh? Well En garde." He slipped his leg under mine tripping me. I quickly jump back to my feet and pinned his arm behind his back. He elbowed me with his other arm and turned me around, getting the advantage. Then shoved me to the ground and sat atop of me. "I win." He smiled at me once again then moved his lips closer to mine. His dry lips brushed against mine.

"EWW!" Thomas said in disgust.

* * *

** Elizabeth**

"EWW!" Thomas yelled.

I turned to glance at him. He was covering his eyes to hide from seeing anything. I looked up at James who was smiling and holding in a laugh. I finally looked over to see what Thomas was disgusted at. Alex and some guy laid on the floor and started making out. I turned to look back out in the distance.

"Do you know him?" James asked me.

"No. I don't, but I bet they dated at some point." I turned to look at James once again. He stood a couple inches taller than me. He was still smiling and I thought I was going to melt, literally. Mixed with the heat and how cute his smile was, I was about to melt through the ground. My blue eyes gazed into his green and I felt an urge. Unable to stop myself, I lunched at him and our lips met. He didn't resist like I thought he would, instead he kissed back. His arms wrapped around my waist and I felt like I was back in the Vault and having the make out session. My first kiss was with one of Alex's ex's and in the same room, she was making out with some other guy. So I had the whole flashback to that one night. We seperated and I looked back into his eyes. I pulled away and turned around.

"Sorry I... I don't know what I was doing. That was stupid." I blushed.

"You're fine, relax." He stepped in front of me. "It was fine." He smiled the same smile again.

I smiled back. 'This is all your fault Alex…thanks.' I thought in my head. I looked over to when Alex was. She looked back at me a raised her eyebrow, giving me one of her famous looks.

* * *

**Hey guys! Chapter 10! Dun Dun Dun! Anyway, please comment, and PM us for more stories, comments, suggestions, questions, or concerns. Thanks!**

**Melissa: Hey! Hope you guys like chapter 10. There is some romance, oh yeah. Haha, anyway. Please check out Megan's profile. She has great poems and stories. We are still planning out the Fallout New Vegas story together and we will get that out once we finish this one. I know, I'm sorry...this story will have to end somewhere...anyway. Please comment and/or PM one/both of us if you have suggestions or just want to say something. Thanks so much for reading!**

**Megan: Hey guys, so we've finished chapter 10 and are starting to work on chapter 11. Sorry about the delay, we've both been super busy. Melissa with being smart, me with failing Spanish, yay! Also sorry about not start a new story yet. I truthfully don't have time for it, I still am working on my own stories and poems and this story and it's a handful because I still have a bunch of homework to do. So we'll probably start the new story once this one is done or at least once our schedules clear up some. Please PM us, comment if you feel the want to and thanks for reading.**


	11. Chapter 11

_I don't own anything, just my own characters. All Fallout copyright goes to Bethesda._

* * *

**Alexandria**

After Liz's and James' lips parted we headed back up to Kellin's camp.

"So Alex, what brings you here?" Kellin sat down on a rock and motioned for all of us to sit down as well.

"I need your help." I sat down next to him.

"With what?"

"It's a long story but to abbreviate there's a guy we are after and he's a threat to the entire wasteland. I need you to come with us and the rest of the guys to hunt down his couriers. Are you hunting anyone at the moment?"

"No, we have a contract pending but for now we are free. I would love to join you but the other guys care more about the money."

"Don't worry about the money. If they help me out I will reward them plentifully."

"I'll ask the guys then." Kellin stood up from the rock and walked to where the men were sitting around. "We have a job men. I need you to hunt down some men."

"Where are we going boss?" One man with red hair asked.

"I have the schedules of the men, each are headed to a different city. I need you to kill them before they make it to their destinations and take the contents of their bags." I walked over to where Kellin stood.

"I'm in." Each one of the men said at a different time.

"Once you finish your job return to Megaton where I will later pay you."

Once I told each man where they were headed the camp was bare, the only remnants were Kellin's sleeping bag and his backpack.

* * *

**Elizabeth **

Once all the men left, I glanced down at my Pip-boy map. The dim green light shined on my face. I found a road that lead to a destination I required. I turned it off and looked up at James, Alex, and Thomas.

'Should I say anything? No... then they'd follow me. But I don't want them to worry.' I deciphered in my mind. Instead, I quietly walked away and into the shadows. I started walking in the direction of my destination. I had to find a lake so I could mask my scent so Jack couldn't track me down. I continued walking in the shadows till I found it safe to walk out and look around my surroundings. I knew I wouldn't make it before dark but all I hoped for was Alex, James, and Thomas would not catch up. I just wanted a river to walk in. I knew the river was far, but I walked quickly. 'I'm sorry guys…' I sighed in my head.

It was quiet. I heard no footsteps, no laughter, no small chatter. Nothing. It was just me. I regretted not telling anyone I had left and I hope they don't worry or think I betrayed them in any way. I just had to do this. It was to keep them safe, hopefully. Even if that meant losing my life, I'd take that chance. I love Thomas. I love Alex. And now, I love James. I even love Jack because he made Thomas smile. I really need this plan to work. I can't put them in danger because of me. I hope they understand.

* * *

**Alexandria**

"Hey Alex, where is my sister?" Thomas came up to me, Jack trailing behind.

"Umm." I looked around for a second. "I have no clue. When did you last see her?"

"When you and that guy were telling the other guys instructions." Though he looked strong, his eyes showed a different emotion.

"Shit, well that's definitely going to complicate things." I ran my fingers through my hair. "Guess I get to play babysitter now."

"Where do you think she went?" He voice was shaking with slight fear.

"I'm not going to lie to you, you definitely deserve the truth. She probably ran off to go find your father, she probably did it so none of us would be hurt, and she's probably going to die in that process. She doesn't know shit about the wastes, she doesn't even know how to properly handle a gun, how would she know what a Deathclaw is."

His face was covered in fear. "Wh-what are we going to do? My sister! We can't just let her kill herself! Alex, she needs help!" He was screaming with fear as tears started to form in his eyes.

He started to run but I caught him onto his arm and gripped tightly making sure he couldn't go anywhere. "Don't make me put you on a leash." I released his arm and pushed him to the ground. "I may not know how to take care of children, but I do know how to track."

He was silent for a moment and looked up at me fearfully.

"What? Don't give me that look. I won't hurt you, I mean unless you force me to."

He continued to stay quiet and give me the fear filled look.

"Goddamn it kid, just say something." I clenched my fist, he was starting to get on my nerves.

"Something…" He paused for a moment. "You're scary when it comes to Liz…"

"Trust me, she was always the nice and good one."

"Noted…and already believed…"

"What's going on over here?" James asked and walked over to us.

"Your girlfriend ran off." I removed my gaze from Thomas and looked over at James.

He blushed and rubbed the back of his neck. "You saw that…? Wait what? Where'd she go?"

"Why do you guys think I have all the answers?"

"You're the girl and you knew her better than we did." They both said.

James smiled. "See, Thomas agrees."

"As I told Thomas I'm _guessing_ she's going to where her father is."

"Alright. Well we need to go after her. I don't know her father that well but he doesn't seem like the nicest guy."

"Hey, hey, hey. I never agreed to this, I still have a job to do." I said before James got any ideas.

"We'll finish the job. Go get Liz." James urged.

"Really you think you and a kid can kill a blood-thirsty man who has killed every mercenary that has even came close to him?"

"Alex, go. Most likely, if we do this at the right time, Liz will have him sidetracked then you can kill him. If we don't, then he will get to us and I dont know how to fight this fucker."

"No, you aren't going to make this more complicated. You guys are coming with me, you don't have a say in it. I'll just leave the job to Crow."

Thomas quickly got up and ran to my side. "I'm going with her." He said in a hurry.

"Fine, we go by your rules." James finally agreed.

"Yay, another adventure." I said in my most uninterested voice. "Now we have a boy that needs a choke chain, a man who thinks he can kill everything, and Kellin." I looked over at Kellin and winked.

"I surely bet _he _can kill everything…" James rolled his eyes and looked at Thomas. "Women." He smiled.

* * *

**Elizabeth**

I quickly walked on the broken road. I was tired. All I wanted to do was fall onto the dry land and fall asleep. But I couldn't. This was my friends lives. I continued to walk. The thought of Alex, Thomas, and James kept me going at a quick pace. I was going to find my father, get more information, gain some trust, and when he wasn't expecting, I'd kill him. I knew it was a long shot and I wouldn't get out unharmed. But it was a plan. And who cared if I was killed before I killed him. I would have injured him somehow.

'Please understand Alex. I'm sorry Thomas. Goodbye James.' I thought in my head. I thought about dying a lot before. I hoped Thomas, Alex, and James wouldn't be there for my last breath. I know it's nice to be surrounded by friends in your last state of life but I couldn't face them. I couldn't watch Thomas melt down in a river of tears. I couldn't look at James' pained face. And, most of all, I couldn't look at Alex's disappointed face. I imagine her mad at me because I'm leaving her. How could I face them?

Then I thought about living. They'd never trust me again. Alex would always keep an eye on me, maybe even find a leash. I smiled at the memory of Alex talking about buying a leash for Thomas and I. We'd always run off when she wasn't looking. It got her quite mad but we always found it funny. But now, it wasn't. This wasn't a funny game. It was serious shit that ends with at least one person dying.

* * *

**Alexandria**

We had moved out immediately after we had gathered up our items, we knew it would be a long walk and wanted to get there as quickly as we could. We had stopped once the sun fell, the sun was now once again in the sky. "Wake up everyone." I kicked a sleeping body.

They groaned softly, and turned to face me. "I don't want to." Kellin looked up at me and smiled.

"Too bad, you're getting up." I moved over to where James and Tom was sleeping. "Come on boys, get up. I'm not going to repeat it again."

Thomas sat up and looked at me. "I'm hungry."

"Then get something to eat."

"But where?"

"I don't know, go grab something from my backpack." I pointed to where my old friend lay.

"Okay." He said with a nod before running over to the bag.

I walked to where Kellin was and told him: "I'm going to go down to the river and bathe a bit, so I can get some of the gunk off me." I walked down to where the bank and the water met. It was a nice morning, it was warm but not hot, a warm breeze blew through the bare wasteland. I removed my clothing and started to walk into the water. It was chilled but warm enough. I heard a few foot steps but didn't fret, my knife was close enough if I needed it.

"Nice body you got there." Kellin's voice startled me.

"Thanks, I like it." I smiled over at him. "So what brings you down here?"

"You, obviously." He smiled back at me but never removed his eyes from my own. He always had respect for me and I appreciated that.

* * *

Once I finished cleaning up Kellin and I traveled back up to the camp. "Remember that one time we got super drunk then I fell off the roof?" I smiled at him.

"That's when I learned to never let you drink in high places." He put his arm around my shoulder and squeezed my shoulder. He sat down on a rock and I sat next to him. "Gather around children."

Thomas and James walked over to where we were sitting. James held an angry look on his face. "What?" He asked impatiently.

"Woah bro, chill out. We just wanted to plan out our next route." Kellin looked over at James.

"Then do it. Liz could be out there dieing! Hurry this shit up so we can leave." James growled at Kellin.

"Calm down. If you want to leave to find your girlfriend then be me my guest." Kellin growled back at him.

"Hey wait, let's not split up…" Thomas piped in.

"I can tell you're so worried." James snapped.

"You're right. I don't really give a shit about your girlfriend. The only reason I am here is because of Alex." Kellin thowe his words at James wait anger.

"Fuck you." James threw a fist at Kellins Face. "Not only are you dissing Liz, but you might be embarrassing Alex." He threw another fist.

Kellin grabbed the second punch and punched him. "Pipe down, asshole." He pushed him back to the ground and snarled.

"Fuck you." James tried to kick him off.

"You two are acting like pissed off two year olds." I grabbed onto Kellin and pulled him back onto the stone. "If you have a problem with Kellin too goddamn bad, you're going to have to deal with him."

James dusted himself off and glared at Kellin. "I can see you care too." He said quietly to me.

This time I cracked; I stood up and punched him square in the nose. It broke with a snapping sound as he fell to the ground. "I've had it with you! If I didn't care about her why would I even be here? Why would've I stayed with her after she thought I left? You've know this girl for five days, do you really think you care more about her than me?"

He stayed silent for a moment and held his nose. "I'm sorry…" He sighed.

"Your apology doesn't mean _anything_." I said every word filled with venom.

"Alex…" Thomas said quietly. It sounded exactly like Liz when she said my name sadly.

I sat back down next to Kellin and quietly said. "Get out of my sight."

James walked back to where he slept the night earlier.

* * *

**Hey guys! Please enjoy chapter 11! Please comment/PM us for suggestions, comments, or concerns! Thanks for reading!**

**Megan: Why do I have to go first? I don't know. Hey guys, we are now officially starting another story. They will be together but not together, we are both writing stories about our character. I will be writing about Alex's two year adventure before she sees Elizabeth and Melissa is writing about Elizabeth's vault experience, which I will be doing Alex's commentary. So we do apologize for not starting another story like this together but you get what you get and don't throw a fit. PM us if you need anything and thanks for reading. **

**Melissa: Hey! What's up? Hoped you guys like chapter 11. And yes, i made Megan go first...Love you Meg...haha anyway. Please check out of other stories about Alex and Liz. We have started a couple stories about the beginning and before they leave the Vault. So, go check out Megan's profile as well as Alex's Pain of the Past. And The Beginning for Liz. Please comment and/or PM us! We love to see what you guys have to say! Anyway, thanks for the support! See you later for chapter 12! **


	12. Chapter 12

_I don't own anything, just my own characters. All Fallout copyright goes to Bethesda._

* * *

**Alexandria**

There was a definite tension filling the camp, Kellin kept mumbling words and James kept shooting dirty looks at me and Kellin. Kellin had a pretty big cut from James running through his eyebrow.

"Hey Tom, can you go grab me my shotgun?"

"Yea." He answered then ran off to grab my gun.

"He seems like a good kid." Kellin said from behind me.

"He is." I was mad at him for starting a fight, I knew he could've handled the situation better. There was no reason for him to punch and it was most definitely a cheap shot.

"What did I do wrong? I wasn't the one who started it."

"I know you didn't start it but you didn't help either. I know you don't know Elizabeth but could you at least care a little bit. If you care about me at all then you should as care about her, she's not only my best friend but she's like my sister. I care way more about her than you, and if you ever think it's the other way around then you need to get your head back on straight. I'd like you to be here but if all you're going to do is start fights and try to sleep with me then leave. Leave now."

"Why would you think that? Why would you think all I'm here is for sex?"

"Because I know you, at least I thought I knew you."

"You do know me, you know me better than anyone else." He grabbed onto my wrist. "I'm not here for sex, I'm here because I still love you. Because I couldn't get you off my mind, because I couldn't sleep without you visiting my dreams." There was so much passion in his words but for some reason they meant nothing to me.

Thomas returned with my shotgun. "Here Alex." He handed the gun to me.

"Thanks." I took my gun from his grasp and pulled out my cleaning tools. "Can you go get me James?"

He nodded and quickly dashed off to where James was sitting with Jack. He came back only seconds later. He pulled James along with him while Jack followed close behind.

"James, I'm sorry about earlier, my anger took control of me." I apologize for one of few times in my life. "I understand you really like Elizabeth and I had no right to say you didn't care about her." I looked up into his eyes.

He shrugged. "I shouldn't have punched Kellin."

"He deserved it." I broke my eye contact and glared at Kellin. "Feel free to do it again."

He half smiled. "Maybe I will." He joked.

"How's your nose feeling?"

"A little dried blood but other then that, it's fine."

"That's good; I'm glad I didn't break it."

"It's fine. I shouldn't have been a dick. But you know, Kellin was lucky to even get a hit on me. I am a great fist fighter." James bragged.

I was about to say something in reply but decided to hold my toung and let him have this victory. "Ya, he's pretty lucky."

James smiled. "So, what's our next move, boss?" .

"To gain some ground." We stood up, gathered our things, and headed off.

* * *

**Elizabeth**

I glanced at my pip-boy map every once in a while to make sure I was going the right way. The marked was still directly in front of me. Every once in a while, Max would run ahead and check out what was ahead. Sometimes he'd come back with some type of squirrel. I remember eating squirrel on a stick but I never liked it that much. We finally stopped again to rest. Max and I stared up at the blazing stars as we sat next to each other.

"What do you think Max? Have you ever wanted to go up there? Into space." I paused to look at his dog face. "And I'm talking to you like you could answer back." I rolled my eyes and looked back at the dark sky. "I hope the others are ok. Poor Tom must be really worried. And Alex...what have I done…?" My knees curled up to my chest and I hid my face inside my legs.

* * *

**Alexandria**

"I'm hungry." Thomas wined as the hot sun beat down on us.

"You're always hungry; what do you want to eat? I have a few MREs left or if you'd like we could head over to the old diner, there may be some food there."

Thomas shrugged.

"How about we stop for a little if he's hungry and he is looking a little tired." James suggested. "Do you know where a dinner is out here?"

"It's the old pre-war dinner, though it's most likely overran by raiders."

"If you guys are up for a fight." James shrugged.

"I am but it's probably a better idea not to go, the raided or coyotes probably have finished whatever food was left behind."

"Agreed. Thomas, just have a MRE."

"Okay." Thomas said and grabbed one of the brown packets out of my backpack.

"Which one did you get?" I tossed one to Kellin and another to James.

"Chili & Macaroni." Thomas answered.

"James?"

"Chicken & Rice."

"That one's a good one." I skipped Kellin, not even acknowledging him.

"It is." He agreed. "My favorite." Before opening it he looked over to me. "Would you like it?" He asked politely.

"Nah, I got the best one: scalloped potatoes."

"Nice." He smiled. "How is yours Thomas?"

"Good." He said with a mouth full.

"Mine's fine, thanks for asking." Kellin added into our conversation with a glare.

"Sorry." James sighed angrily.

"No need to apologize, he's being a butt-hurt just like normal." I returned the glare.

Thomas laughed then quickly stopped nervously. James stayed quiet and ate his food.

"Alex, we need to talk." Kellin stood up and grabbed onto my arm dragging me behind a boulder. "Why are you being such a bitch?"

"I'm not being a bitch, I just don't understand why you're acting so strange."

"Me? What about you?"

"I … I don't know. I know I've changed, I was so excited to see you but you don't seem to want to be here." I looked down at my feet.

Kellin pushed my chin up and looked into my eyes. "I do want to be here, I'm sorry about not caring enough for your friend but I'd travel around the world for you. I love you and I will always love you." He kissed me softly on the lips, the first time since we broke up. "I'm sorry about the past, I just wanted to keep you safe."

"I know. Kellin please promise me you won't leave again, also please don't fight with James. He cares for Elizabeth and he wants to help so can you please just try and get along with him."

"I'll try."

"Don't just try, promise me. If he insults you just push your pride back down and turn the other cheek."

"I … I promise." He kissed me once again before we walked out from behind the rock.

* * *

**Please enjoy chapter 12. It is sadly coming to an end but we still have a few more chapters! So thanks so much for all the support! **

**Megan: Hey all, we apologize that this chapter took so long, once again we've been super busy. We only have a few more chapter and they'll probably take a while to get out. Check out Melissa's other stories. PM us if you need anything, please comment, and thanks for reading.**

**Melissa: Hey guys! I hope you guys are liking the story. We are sorry it took us a little longer to get the chapter up, it's been a busy couple of weeks. We are close to ending the great story of Alex and Liz...sorry. But don't fret! You'll see more of Megan and I! And besides, you can always read The Beginning and The Pain Of The Past which are stories about Alex and Liz before they left. So do check those out, if you haven't, and please look at Megan's profile! Anyway, thanks for reading and helping out! **


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